Ministry of Finance Cyber Fiasco - French Loan Payment Files Also Missing

Information has been revealed that the same group of computer hackers suspected of being involved in the disappearance of USD 2.5 million from the Treasury's funds has also stolen documents related to French loan repayments from the Ministry of Finance's computer system. Preliminary investigations have confirmed that these missing files are connected to a French loan scheduled for future repayment.

Investigators strongly suspect that by obtaining this information, the cybercriminals are planning to commit another financial fraud.

Investigations into this cyber attack have been assigned to a special cyber-technical investigation team of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). Laptop computers, mobile phones, and SIM cards belonging to the staff of the Ministry of Finance's Foreign Resources Department, who handled the USD 2.5 million loan payment due to Australia, were taken into custody by the investigation team yesterday. A senior government official stated that special attention is being paid to determining whether any internal assistance was provided to an external party for unauthorized access to the computer system.

Commenting on the incident, Deputy Finance Minister Anil Jayanth said that the security of the Treasury's official email accounts had been compromised, and there was clear negligence on the part of the officials who handled the payments. He further emphasized that investigations are underway from all angles to determine whether this act occurred due to any political motive aimed at embarrassing the government or any other deliberate plan.

Following the identification of this massive security breach, several stringent security measures have now been introduced to prevent a recurrence. Accordingly, a new law has been enacted stating that all future loan repayments must also be approved by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka, and the Deputy Minister mentioned that the latest security features have been added to ensure that internal servers do not fall prey to hackers again.

The assistance of the Australian Federal Police has also been sought for these investigations. The Deputy Minister stated that there is a possibility of an Australian investigation team visiting Sri Lanka or a group of Sri Lankan investigators traveling to Australia to further the investigations. Additionally, the Sri Lankan government is currently discussing with Australia to obtain the necessary technical assistance to resolve this cybercrime.