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The website of state-owned Janata Bank has been hacked despite being taken offline as a precaution against potential cyberattacks.
Spam was detected in at least two sections of the website, and the bank’s information technology (IT) team is working to fix the problems. As a result, the website had not been restored by 11:30am on Sunday.
A senior official of Janata Bank’s IT department told Sara Bangla that signs of two attacks had been found on the website and that it was taking time to repair the damage. The official expressed hope that the website could be restored later in the day.
No comment could be obtained from the bank’s managing director, as the position is currently vacant.
On October 19, the government cancelled the remaining term of Managing Director Mojibur Rahman’s appointment.
A five-day holiday across government offices and the banking sector began the following day on the occasion of Durga Puja.
As a precaution against the threat of global cyberattacks, the websites of Bangladesh Bank and Janata Bank had been taken offline since Thursday.
After the five-day holiday ended, Bangladesh Bank’s website was restored on Sunday to coincide with the resumption of banking operations. Janata Bank’s website, however, remained inaccessible.
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and relevant organisations issued a warning about cyberattack risks after two serious security vulnerabilities were identified in PHP, a widely used programming language.
In a joint advisory published on October 21, the organisations warned that attackers could exploit the vulnerabilities to execute malicious code on affected servers.
They recommended temporarily disconnecting vulnerable web applications from the internet if security updates could not be applied promptly.
Following the warning, various organisations took steps to strengthen the security of their websites.
As of 11:30am on Sunday, the websites of other state-owned banks, including Sonali, Agrani, Rupali and BASIC Bank, remained operational.
