Chinese hackers were possibly behind one of the world’s biggest cyber heists, the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank, a senator in the Philippines said on Tuesday, while a Manila bank manager involved in the case said she was a pawn of senior bankers and unnamed tycoons.Unidentified hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February and funneled it through a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) to casinos and gambling agents in the Philippines.”It would appear they are not Filipino hackers (but) possibly Chinese hackers,” said Ralph Recto during a Senate inquiry in the capital Manila. “They saw the vulnerability in the (Philippines) banking system or one bank.”Recto did not give any details on why he thought the hackers were Chinese. But the Senate was told in a previous session that the money was brought into the Philippines by two Chinese high-rollers, one from Macau and one from Beijing.The hackers who infiltrated the computer systems of Bangladesh Bank tried to steal $951 million from its account at the New York Fed although most transactions were blocked.But $81 million was transferred into four RCBC accounts at a single Manila branch, whoch had each been opened with a $500 deposit and remained inactive for almost a year. All of the funds were then transferred to a foreign exchange broker and further distributed.

Källa: Bangladesh Bank hackers ‘possibly Chinese,’ says Philippines senator | Reuters