The criminal's age
Just a few short decades ago, maybe 10–15 years before I was born, or in the 1980s, there was a theft issue in the hamlet. Our home has experienced enough break-ins. When I was a child, I used to hear that among the five to ten nearby villages, our house experienced the most burglaries. There was a lot of thievery in the past.
He frequently hacked open the door to the house in the dead of night to enter and take stuff. At that time, the majority of the village's homes were made of mud. The river used to be quite simple for thieves to cut. Know what needs to be cut? The robbers dug through the earth of the unfinished foundation of the house to create a tunnel. To dig the earth, they utilized a long stick-like object.
In those days, most residents of the village were subsistence farmers. Their home was devoid of a chest and an iron safe. People from the middle class in the area once kept a sizable tin trunk in their home. The majority of the time, this trunk was under the covered cotton blanket's cushion; if not, it was under the bed. This trunk once held valuable items like cash, pricey sarees, jewelry, and land titles.
No important documents or land deeds were tampered with by the thieves. Only pricey attire, sarees, jewelry, and cash were exchanged. There was both the sly thief and the sneaky thief. When they first arrived, the villagers were perplexed by their look. Considering that they are not pricey items, yet they utilized to clean hands in a flash. Whatever was available, including buckets, pots, bowls, towels, shoes, and garments hung up to dry on ropes, straws, and tree branches, was shared. When minor, necessary items were stolen, the villagers used to become tremendously agitated.
Another gang of criminals then appeared. All they ever did was steal fish out of the pond. He used to silently toss nets while dousing himself in mustard oil and cleaning the pond late at night. There was also a crew of chicken thieves. They used to exclusively steal chicken from residential buildings; they didn't even touch anything else. Let's now discuss yet another gang of dangerous robbers. In the past, if you managed to catch them, they would offer you a bamboo stick.
Another gang of criminals then appeared. All they ever did was steal fish out of the pond. He used to silently toss nets while dousing himself in mustard oil and cleaning the pond late at night. There was also a crew of chicken thieves. They used to exclusively steal chicken from residential buildings; they didn't even touch anything else. Let's now discuss yet another gang of dangerous robbers. In the past, if you managed to catch them, they would offer you a bamboo stick.At any hour of the day or night, they steal. There's no need to use mustard oil.
They have advanced education. And extraordinarily gifted. They use their talent simply for the sake of stealing. While eating pizza, burgers, and black coffee in a chilly room, people's bank balances are quickly depleted. In the past, thieves had to pay a loss of few thousand rupees if they stole, but a loss of several thousand crores of rupees if they stole.
You're correct, of course. Hackers are these. Cyber criminals They don't just aim for the general public. Large financial institutions, including banks, the World Bank, and the central and reserve banks. They have everywhere spread black net.
A short while ago. The central bank of the United States held a sizable portion of Bangladesh Bank's dollar reserves. Dollar transactions were handled out of a very guarded chamber in the Bangladesh Bank headquarters. The dollar transfer command was initially printed on a printer with an internet connection because this was done through Swift. Later, the same was transmitted via telegraph to the bank's SWIFT system. Additionally, it runs dynamically.
There was no way to intercept or alter the dollar transfer message in the middle because it was printed and sent over a secure telegraphic channel. It was completely unhackable. However, an attempt was made to take 100 million dollars from the reserve dollars of Bangladesh Central Bank and the robbers managed to steal 100 million dollars.
But how was this sum of $10,000,000 stolen? It was completely unhackable. Strangely enough, modern thieves aren't so foolish. They are proficient at the impossible. This heist was committed by a well-known North Korean hacker. It was an enormous gang. This theft included lots of persons. The actual theft, however, was carried out by just one individual. the enigmatic hacker.
The hacker team entered the field after gathering information for a considerable amount of time. That printer was their main objective. This formerly resided in the Bangladesh Central Bank building's most safe and secretive strong room. the printer used to print the dollar transfer command
Since the printer is linked to the Internet, the guideline is that the connection should be kept as secure against hacking as possible. The lump of the Bangladesh Bank was here. Only one day has passed since the firewall protection was supposed to be updated by the security firm tasked with doing so. given that it was Friday. Weekend general elections in Bangladesh. The hacker team spent the last three years simply waiting for this moment to adapt. only one cyberattack. successfully carried out. The hacker currently has control over the printer. A fresh firewall update will also have no effect.
The thief is in possession of a printer. The hacker had to wait an additional week, though. because I'm looking for a chance. The goal has been set for next Sunday. These days, a hacker just needs two things. One. any number of unfinished money transfer orders, regardless of their size. Two, a day when banks in Bangladesh are open while they are closed in the United States.
The chance materialized. Bangladeshi banks will open on Sunday. High-ranking members of the Bangladesh Central Bank's staff verified their legitimacy by ordering the transfer of a few minor sums in dollars. But the objective is imposed. It wasn't printing anything. The bank employee noted that the printer wasn't functional. Everyone left the bank after that and went home. The US banks were all closed because it was Sunday. On holidays, SWIFT transactions are not carried out. At the hacker's request, the printer awoke in the middle of the night. Take note of the encrypted authentication codes for all outstanding transactions that have not yet been put to use. because at the time the printer wasn't working (The hacker's orders caused the printer to stop functioning.) Thus, they were pending rather than being executed.
I'll relate the next tale in a nutshell. The printer printed multiple dollar transfer directives as directed by the hacker. The authentication code from the pending transaction from the day before allows them to pass. As a result, Bangladesh Bank's server automatically requested clearance. They now proceeded telegraphically through the SWIFT system to the US Bank's SWIFT system for execution.
The orders were carried out one at a time on Monday. But here, something intriguing took place. In every command, the North Korean hacker spelled "Bangladesh" incorrectly. One of them was accurate. Thus, that particular trade was a success. The remainder were immediately canceled. However, the harm had already been done.
The hacker received $10,000,000. Fortunately, the hacker made a spelling error, saving the remaining $900 million. One billion dollars was the total amount that charming burglar intended to take.