Bangladesh probes 2013 hack:

Subcontinent

Bangladesh police are reviewing a nearly forgotten 2013 cyber heist at the nation’s largest commercial bank for connections to February’s $81 million heist at the country’s central bank, a senior law enforcement official said on Wednesday.

The unsolved theft of $250,000 at Sonali Bank involved fraudulent transfer requests sent over the SWIFT international payments network. It is not widely known outside of Bangladesh, and in fact was treated as a cold case until Bangladesh police revived the investigation after thieves in February also used the SWIFT network to steal $81 million from Bangladesh Bank.

Sonali Bank said it had informed SWIFT about the 2013 heist at the time and also unsuccessfully tried to recover the money from the recipients in Turkey, said one bank source.

Thieves in the 2013 robbery used tactics similar to those used by the yet-tobe-identified criminals in the Bangladesh Bank heist — using the SWIFT moneytransfer system to divert bank funds, said a senior bank official. Authorities are now reviewing the case to see if there are any links that can help them track down the criminals behind the Bangladesh Bank heist.

At Sonali Bank, hackers installed key-logger software on a computer to gain passwords to other systems, then sent fraudulent transfer requests over SWIFT, said the senior bank official who is part of its IT operations.

Police arrested two employees who had responsibility for initiating and approving money transfer instructions, but they were later freed without being charged.

Sonali Bank Managing Director Pradip Kumar Dutta told Reuters that the attackers remain at large and no money has been recovered. (RTRS)

India panic buttons a must:

Panic buttons will have to be fitted on all India’s public buses to curb sex attacks on women, the transport minister said Wednesday, more than three years after the fatal gangrape of a student on a bus in Delhi.

The transport ministry said it would issue a formal order after June 2 making the emergency measures on public buses a must.

“To ensure the safety of women after the unfortunate incident, we have decided to make it mandatory for public transport buses to install emergency panic buttons, CCTV cameras and GPS-enabled vehicle tracking devices,” Nitin Gadkari told reporters in New Delhi.

He was referring to the brutal attack on a woman in December 2012 as she returned home from the cinema.

The assault triggered outrage and mass protests across India, leading to an overhaul of its rape laws but high numbers of assaults persist.

Rajasthan is the first state in India to have such buses, with 20 vehicles fitted with the new safety measures.

Panic buttons are placed above the front doors which, once pressed, send an emergency message to a police control room that can then view live footage of the bus interior.

Gadkari said all public buses would have to be modelled the same way, while manufacturers must ensure new buses come equipped with the facilities.

The government’s latest anti-sex attack move follows its announcement last month that all mobile phones sold in India would have to have a panic button from the start of 2017. (AFP)

Neighbour of disabled girl held:

Indian police have arrested the neighbour of a mentally disabled girl who allegedly raped her and left her for dead in New Delhi, officials said Thursday, the latest incident of sexual violence to spark public outrage.

Locals found the 13-year-old orphan