Sri Lanka reports second missing payment amid ongoing treasury cyber attack investigation

The Sri Lankan government has disclosed another missing international payment, just days after revealing that hackers had stolen $2.5 million from its finance ministry. Sri Lankan officials said Tuesday that a payment of approximately $625,000 to the U.S. Postal Service has been unaccounted for over several weeks. U.S. authorities reported that the funds failed to arrive. The incident was detected after hackers attempted to divert a separate payment intended for India. Australian officials are reportedly also aware of irregularities in payments owed to their country. These incidents appear to be business email compromise attacks, in which hackers infiltrate email inboxes or accounting systems to manipulate routing information and redirect payments. Treasury Secretary Harshana Suriyapperuma said last week that the hackers diverted a payment from Sri Lanka's postal authority "to other bank accounts, instead of the intended recipient." The FBI has reported that email compromise attacks continue to be one of the most profitable cybercriminal operations, resulting in billions of dollars in losses annually. The successive disclosures have added pressure on the Sri Lankan government, which continues to recover from a 2022 debt default and economic crisis that led to months of protests and the ouster of then-president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It is currently unclear if the two recent thefts are connected. Member of Parliament Nalinda Jayatissa said the government is investigating whether the incidents are linked.