Cyberattack fears: Janata Bank, Bengal Commercial Bank websites go offline

The websites of Janata Bank and Bengal Commercial Bank have been shut down amid fears of cyberattacks. Users are unable to access either website, leaving customers unable to obtain information or use other services through the banks’ online platforms.

When the two websites were accessed at around 12:30 pm today, notices stated that maintenance work was under way and that the websites would be back online soon. The banks apologised to customers for the inconvenience. However, repeated attempts to access the websites later were unsuccessful.

Attempts to contact Janata Bank’s acting managing director, Fayaz Alam, for comment were unsuccessful.

Concerns about possible cyberattacks on banks and other financial institutions have been growing over the past few days. Bangladesh Bank’s official website was taken offline last Thursday as a precaution. It was restored at 8:00 am today, Sunday, after three days.

The websites of Agrani Bank, IFIC Bank, Standard Islami Bank and SBAC Bank had also been taken offline during this period, but they are now operational.

However, internet banking and mobile banking transactions continued as normal over the past three days, causing no disruption to customers’ transactions.

Speaking to Prothom Alo today, Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan said the website had been checked for possible vulnerabilities. The decision to take it offline was made amid fears of cyberattacks worldwide. As the risk has subsided, the website has been restored.

The internet and software are now essential for operating government services, banking, e-commerce, news outlets and various online platforms.

A large proportion of these websites rely on the PHP programming language. The recent discovery of two serious security vulnerabilities in PHP has raised global concerns about cybersecurity.