DHAKA: The Philippines Central Bank has blocked an attempts to hack its website, amid a warning from global financial network SWIFT about recent multiple cyber fraud incidents targeting its system.

SWIFT'S disclosure came as law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh and elsewhere investigated the February cyber theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank account at the New York Federal Reserve Bank, its governor said on Thursday.

Tetangco stressed the hacking only involved its website and that it has been updating its cyber security systems. He did not say when the hacking attempts occurred, reports REUTERS.

We continue to update the firewalls, the security features as we move along. It is a continuing effort, he said. What is important is that these attempts should not be successful.

Philippine lawmakers and investigators are looking into how $81 million hacked from the New York Fed account of Bangladesh's central bank wound up with two casinos and a junket operator in the Philippines in one of the biggest cyber heists in history.

Bangladesh's central bank was vulnerable to hackers because it did not have a firewall and used second-hand, $10 switches to network computers connected to the SWIFT network, an investigator said.

Despite the bank heist controversy, the Philippine central bank believes the country's banking system remains strong.

But it has directed banks and financial institutions in the Philippines to strengthen their know-your-customer practices following a separate website hacking incident involving the country's poll body.

BDST: 1052 HRS, APR 28, 2016
SAS/AKA