Following recent reports of overseas cybersecurity threats, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued an advisory urging financial institutions to remain vigilant and secure SWIFT payment terminals.
There were recent reports internationally that attackers attempted fraudulent fund transfers using the SWIFT system.
Issuing a press release today, MAS advisory reminded financial institutions to continue to strengthen measures to safeguard themselves in the areas including implementing a layered security approach to protect IT environment as well as appropriate measures to secure SWIFT payment terminals and employing strong access controls to restrict the usage of administrator-level system accounts on SWIFT servers.
In addition to this, financial institutions have been advised to perform payment reconciliation/monitoring of SWIFT messages to detect any fraudulent payments in a timely manner.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has issued an advisory to remind financial institutions to remain vigilant, following recent reports of cyber incidents overseas where attackers attempted fraudulent fund transfers using the SWIFT system.
Tan Yeow Seng, Chief Cyber Security Officer of MAS, said, “The recent cyber incidents present yet another reminder of the constant cyber threats to our financial sector. It is important for all financial institutions to be vigilant. MAS has been working with financial institutions in Singapore on a number of initiatives to continuously deepen the sector’s cyber capabilities, taking into account the rapidly changing cyber threat landscape.”
MAS regularly assesses financial institutions’ cyber resilience through its supervisory programmes.
“Where there are areas of potential vulnerabilities, MAS requires the financial institution to develop a remedial plan and will monitor the financial institution’s rectification of such gaps,” said MAS in the release.