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Several commercial banks have decided to shut down their ATMs and online services from 12pm to 8am after Bangladesh Bank issued a warning notice citing the threat of hacking or cyberattack.
Meanwhile, these decisions have been announced through mobile messages and special notices at ATMs.
Abul Kashem Mohammad Shirin, managing director and chief executive officer of Dutch Bangla Bank Limited, a private commercial bank, said the bank had sent them a notice on August 28 telling them to be cautious.
Several banks, including Eastern Bank Limited-EBL, BRAC Bank, South-East Bank, Dutch Bangla Bank, United Commercial Bank-UCB and others, have announced the closure of ATMs and online services.
What are the warning notices?
In this regard, Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Sirajul Islam said that government cyber security agencies have informed Bangladesh Bank of a threat such as hacking in a letter. In light of your letter, Bangladesh Bank has asked other banks to be vigilant.
“Once the digital security agencies have notified us, we review and classify them. If we believe that other banks should also be informed, we do so,” said Sirajul Islam.
He said the warning said banks should be careful not to get hacked due to some weakness in their own devices or for any other reason.
He said the warning did not come suddenly. Sirajul Islam said that the Bank of Bangladesh occasionally gives such warning messages.
However, Bangladesh Bank has not yet received any confirmation of such an incident, Sirajul Islam said.
In this regard, the managing director and CEO of Dutch Bangla Bank Limited said that the ad said that a group called North Korean Beaglesboys was trying to hack. That has been reported to the Bangladesh Bank by the intelligence agency.
“The Bangladesh Bank did not say directly what to do. But it said to be careful and maintain all security measures.”
The most serious of the security measures are credit cards and Swift, where transactions are made in dollars. If both of these media are hacked, the hackers don’t need to come to Bangladesh. They can hack while in a foreign country.
Why the decision to shut down ATM and online banking services at night?
Abul Kashem Mohammad Shirin, Managing Director and CEO of Dutch Bangla Bank Limited, said: “First of all, transactions are very rare at night.”
Second, there were no officers in the bank’s fast-track booths at the time. As a result, it is difficult to prevent someone from trying to use a fake card or making unusual transactions.
That is why this decision has been made to ensure safety.
Regarding the decision of several banks to stop ATM services and online banking, Central Bank spokesman Sirajul Islam said: “If the banks have made that decision, it is a very temporary decision.”
“It also takes a few days to check for vulnerabilities in the bank’s device or system. That’s why it may have made that decision. But it’s temporary.”
Because of this, thousands of people will have trouble using debit cards or online banking. That’s why no bank would want to do it long-term, he said.
In addition, the Bank of Bangladesh is on the matter, said Sirajul Islam.
Meanwhile, an official at the private bank Eastern Bank said cyber attacks could happen at any time. In order to reduce the time, it was decided to close the ATM and online banking services at that time.
The Eastern Bank official did not want to be named.
He said that after the warning from the Bangladesh Bank, the transaction is being monitored further as a precautionary measure. Bank officials have also been instructed not to share any information with clients.
The official also said that caution has been exercised in the use of email.
According to him, most hacking occurs when bank officials are not active in his system. With this in mind, it has been decided to close ATMs and online transactions at that time of night to reduce the risk of being hacked.
What will the customers do?
The CEO of Dutch Bangla Bank said that it is possible even if a customer urgently needs such a service when ATMs and online machines are closed.
He said that if someone urgently needs money, such as paying a hospital bill, then the customer can pay the bill directly in offline mode by debit card via Pause Machine.
In this case, you will not need the ATM service.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Sirajul Islam said that if banks need to further improve their IT services, he said all banks must comply with the Bangladesh Bank Master Circular to ensure technical security. And they do.
But at the same time, if a bank thinks it wants to make an improvement on its own initiative, it can. He also said such warnings have been given before. BBC
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