Govt alerts banks about cyberattack threat
The federal government has alerted banks about the risk of a cyberattack, instructing them to put in place precautionary measures to avoid hackers from stealing money.
The finance institutions division of the finance ministry had sent a letter to banks on Thursday asking them to take necessary measures, said an official of a bank, preferring anonymity.
A good North Korean hacker group named "Beagle Boys", which had been involved in stealing money from the central bank's foreign exchange reserve in 2016, may make an effort to hack into ATM booths of banking institutions and the SWIFT (Contemporary society for All over the world Interbank Financial Telecommunication) network to steal funds.
Some banks have previously taken precautionary measures as per the instruction of the ministry.
State-owned Rupali Bank has suspended the procedure of ATM booths from 11:00pm to 7:00am.
In August, Bangladesh Lender had alerted banks about a likely cybersecurity threat to bank transactions through ATM booth, bank cards and other modes of online banking.
Since then, virtually all banks kept the services of automated teller equipment (ATMs) and level of revenue (POS) suspended from 12:00am to 7:00am.
In an previous cyberattack in February 2016, hackers stole $101 million from the Bangladesh Bank's account with the Federal Reserve Bank of NY. Of the sum, $81 million ended up in the Philippines and $20 million in Sri Lanka.
