Government identified perpetrator of embezzlement of payments system funds, says newspaper

Investigations identified a suspect of hacking and embezzling money from Siafi, a federal government system used to execute payments, according to The globe. At least one more person is being investigated for involvement in the scheme, according to the newspaper.

According to the TV channel GloboNewsthe suspects embezzled R$3.5 million from the Union – and part of this amount would have been sent outside the country.

Federal Police (PF) and the Brazilian Intelligence Agency (Abin) are investigating the case, while the National Treasury, Siafi’s manager, has implemented additional security measures in the system.

The attack would have taken place in the user authentication system, with unauthorized third parties using CPFs and passwords of qualified managers to make financial transactions.

It is suspected that the attackers obtained the data through “password fishing”, collecting the data for months until they gathered a volume of keywords that allowed the attack. According to the investigation, at least 16 passwords were used to try to send payments to 200 false creditors.

According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulothe fraud was detected because the CPF of a manager used to issue the bank order was the same as that of the person who made the settlement, which is not allowed according to federal administration rules.

This Monday, Fernando Haddad, Minister of Finance, said that the incident would be related to a user with access to the system, which is managed by the National Treasury and centralizes federal government payments.

According to the minister, there was no breach in the security of the system itself. He stated he had no information about amounts that may have been embezzled.

“It wasn’t an action by a hacker that broke security, it wasn’t that, it was an authentication problem. This is what the Federal Police is investigating and, obviously, is tracking to reach those responsible”, said Haddad.