Hackers Ran Through Holes in Swift’s Network

Payment-transfer network left banks largely responsible for their own cyberdefense; old passwords at Bangladesh’s central bank

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has James Bond-level security at the facilities it uses to move millions of bank-payment orders around the world every day.

Visitors to a Swift operations center in Culpeper, Va., say their car trunks were inspected upon arrival by armed guards, who used mirrors to check under the chassis. Security inside included a fingerprint scan, a test for chemical weapons and an iris scanner in the most restricted areas.