A gang of cybercriminals responsible for the astounding Bangladesh Bank robbery encountered a setback in their attempt to pilfer $1 billion due to a simple spelling mistake.
Throughout history, educators have consistently advised us to meticulously review our written work in order to evade trivial errors. Little did these hackers know that a single wrongly spelled word would result in the loss of millions. Of course, we’re not endorsing their actions in any way.
A gripping new documentary of monumental scale, titled “Billion Dollar Heist,” narrates the tale of what is widely regarded as one of the most daring instances of cybercrime to date.
In 2016, an anonymous group of hackers managed to embezzle millions from the central bank of Bangladesh.
Preview the trailer below:
The cybercriminals—presumed to be the Lazarus group based in North Korea, previously responsible for hacking Sony in 2014—dispatched 35 deceitful directives through the SWIFT network with the intention of transferring nearly $1 billion from Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The SWIFT network facilitates the execution of financial transactions and transfers between banks globally. The hackers bombarded the Federal Reserve Bank of New York with 35 transfer requests intended to move funds from Bangladesh to accounts located in the Philippines and Sri Lanka.
Out of the 35 requests, five were successfully executed, enabling the hackers to acquire and shift $101 million to four accounts in the Philippines and one in Sri Lanka.
The identities of these cybercriminals remain shrouded in mystery to this day. They came dangerously close to achieving their ultimate goal; however, a glaring spelling error within an online bank transfer instruction sabotaged months, if not years, of planning.
The hackers misspelled the name of a Sri Lankan nonprofit organization (NGO) account, specifically the “Shalika Foundation.”
The term “foundation” was inadvertently written as “fandation,” triggering an alert that halted the transaction destined for Sri Lanka.
As a result of this costly blunder, the remaining 30 requests, totaling $850 million, were also obstructed. This left the hackers with the $81 million that was successfully traced to the Philippines.
Renowned cybersecurity expert Misha Glenny, who contributes to the documentary, termed the typo as a moment of “real irony.”
During an interview with LADbible, Glenny pondered how cybercrime has evolved into a more sophisticated endeavor over the past decade. Hacker groups now operate with specialized roles, similar to the dynamics of the characters in the movie “Ocean’s 11.” Among them are money launderers, malware creators, and individuals responsible for disseminating phishing emails—roles analogous to those played by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Matt Damon.
Investigators soon discerned patterns in cyber attacks occurring within shifts from 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM and from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM, with an hour’s break in between, reflecting different time zones worldwide. This pattern illustrated the increasing “professionalization” and office-based nature of cyber attacks.
Reflecting on the meticulous planning and organization involved in hacking the Bangladesh bank, Glenny remarked to LADbible: “The film’s true irony lies in the fact that despite their meticulous preparations and efforts to ensure that the attack coincided with a holiday in a critical location—be it in Bangladesh, the United States, or the Philippines—these cybercriminals didn’t succeed in walking away with a billion dollars.”
“Billion Dollar Heist” can now be rented or purchased on digital platforms.