Hackers were able to make off with $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh because the network administrators there were using cheap hardware.
As police investigated a data breach at the bank that began in February, they learned there was no firewall and the computers connected to the SWIFT global banking network were connected to cheap, second-hand switches that cost about $10, Reuters reported.
Not ponying up a few hundred bucks for more sophisticated ones turned out to be an $81 million mistake, and it could've been much more since the unnamed hackers tried to make fraudulent transfers up to nearly $1 billion.
"You are talking about an organization that has access to billions of dollars and they are not taking even the most basic security precautions," Jeff Wichman, a consultant with cyber firm Optiv, told Reuters.
Once the hackers gained access to the bank's network in February, they used those privileges to move cash from its account at the New York Federal Reserve to banks in the Philippines, according to BBC.
Bank staff were alerted after a spelling mistake in one of the transfer orders, thwarting the hackers from siphoning any more cash.
The cash has not been recovered, and the hackers behind the heist are still unknown.
