The U.S. Justice Department is reported to be preparing a case that would accuse North Korea of being behind the hacking and subsequent theft of $81 million from Bangladesh’s Central Bank in 2016.

First reported in February last year, Bangladesh Bank initially alleged that $100 million had been stolen through unknown parties from their foreign exchange account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. A subsequent investigation found that the breach had taken placed through Bangladesh Bank’s own systems as hackers managed to break into the software of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, more commonly known as SWIFT.

The ability to hack SWIFT, the software used by worldwide banks to transfer money across international borders, cascaded as a second bank was hacked and the organization itself confessed that many banks had been targeted in a similar way. Security firm FireEye Inc. put the number at up to a dozen banks last June in a report that first named North Korea as a likely suspect behind the hacks.

The Wall Street Journal, citing officials familiar with the matter, reported Wednesday that prosecutors believe that Chinese middlemen, funded by North Korea, were behind the hack of Bangladesh Bank and other similar attempts to breach bank systems through the SWIFT network.

Notably, the same report claims that the hacking tools used to target the banks were the same ones used against Sony in its infamous 2014 hack that exposed internal company documents and led to the resignation of key executives. North Korea was blamed for that attack, which is believed to have been motivated by anger at Sony’s decision to release “The Interview,” a movie that parodied the country and its leader Kim Jong-Un.

Exactly what action the Department of Justice can take against North Korea, should the link be proven, is unclear. The country is already considered a pariah nation with heavy sanctions and limited diplomatic representation. SWIFT, on the other hand, has taken action by cutting off all North Korean banks from its network.

Photo: northkoreatravel/Flickr