Dhaka, Oct 25 (V7N)- The Bangladesh Bank website has resumed operations after remaining offline for nearly three days due to cybersecurity concerns, central bank Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan has confirmed.
According to the spokesperson, the website became operational again at 8am on Sunday, October 25, following security checks and measures to address identified vulnerabilities.
The website was temporarily shut down on Thursday as a precautionary measure amid concerns over potential cyberattacks exploiting security flaws in the PHP programming language.
Similar precautionary measures were taken for the websites of several other banks and institutions using PHP-based systems. Server maintenance work at some institutions, including Janata Bank, was still ongoing, according to the information provided.
The central bank said the shutdown was intended to reduce the risk of cyberattacks linked to software vulnerabilities. Despite the website being unavailable, communication between Bangladesh Bank and commercial banks continued normally during the period.
The website was reopened after the central bank reviewed the security risks and took steps to address the identified vulnerabilities.
The incident followed reports of serious security flaws in PHP, one of the world's most widely used programming languages. Although security patches were released to address the vulnerabilities, detailed information about the flaws reportedly became public before the patches had been fully implemented.
The precautionary shutdown highlighted the importance of timely security updates and vulnerability management for financial institutions and other organisations operating online services.
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