North Korea pulled off one of the biggest cyber heists in history when they stole $81 million from Bangladesh’s central bank, America’s top spymaster told politicians on Tuesday.National Intelligence Director Dan Coats told Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that North Korea poses a major threat to cybersecurity globally and the US in particular.
Criminals from the hermit state developed and launched the WannaCry ransomware in May 2017, judging from technical links to previously identified North Korean cyber tools, tradecraft, and operational infrastructure, he said.
"We also assess that these actors conducted the cyber theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh Bank in 2016," Coats said when testifying on the assessment of the intelligence committee on worldwide threats.
Hackers broke into Bangladesh Bank computers and issued fake payment orders tricking the Federal Reserve Bank of New York into paying out $101 million to accounts in Sri Lanka and the Philippines.
Bangladesh has managed to recover parts of the money. Its central bank says it will sue Manila-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation from where the money disappeared.