Sri Lanka discloses another missing payment, days after hackers stole $2.5M from its finance ministry

On Tuesday, Sri Lanka revealed that a payment of approximately $625,000 (around 199.7 million Sri Lankan rupees) to the U.S. Postal Service has been unaccounted for over several weeks. This revelation follows reports from U.S. officials indicating that the payment had not reached its destination, according to local media outlets. The situation came to light after authorities discovered an attempt by hackers to redirect another payment that was meant for India. Australian officials have also noted irregularities in payments owed to them, hinting that the scope of the cyber thefts in Sri Lanka may be more extensive than initially believed. This announcement follows a recent incident where Sri Lankan officials reported that a hacker had stolen $2.5 million from the country’s finance ministry. Treasury Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma confirmed at a press conference last week that the hackers diverted funds intended for the postal authority into other bank accounts, avoiding the intended recipient altogether. These incidents appear to be instances of business email compromise (BEC) attacks. In such scams, cybercriminals infiltrate email accounts or accounting systems to manipulate bank transaction details during invoice payments. BEC scams have proven to be lucrative for hackers, with recent FBI statistics indicating that such attacks have continued to be a leading source of cybercrime revenue, resulting in billions of dollars in losses in the previous year. The series of security breaches has intensified scrutiny on the Sri Lankan government, which is still grappling with the aftermath of a severe economic crisis that led to a debt default in 2022 and widespread protests that resulted in the resignation of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Currently, it is unclear whether the two thefts are interconnected. Member of Parliament Nalinda Jayatissa stated that the government is actively investigating any possible links between the incidents.