By Hackers breached Maltese Bank of Valletta and it had immediately suspended entire operations temporarily to minimize threat causes and evaluated its systems. The bank shut down its branches all over the island, moreover the ATM services, internet and mobile banking were disabled. They warned their customers to prevent using Bank of Valletta cards for payments purposes in any online stores, restaurants, or hotels etc.
About The Cyber Attack
The cyber attack was discovered soon after the commencement of business on February 13 morning as mentioned in Times of Malta. The attackers endeavored to transfer an amount of 13 million euro into accounts with US, UK, Hong Kong and Czech Republic banks. The amount transfers were entirely blocked within thirty minutes of when they were carried through, however it is yet unconfirmed whether the hackers have or haven’t been capable to acquire their hands on any of the theft money. The bank convinced its clients that none of customers’ accounts and or their funds are compromised in such cyber threat. It had also stated that it is working together with international and local police authorities in the investigation of the cyber attack, which evidently generated overseas.
Cyber Attack Fallout
The complete shutdown of Bank of Valletta‘s services guide to chaos particularly at supermarkets, as they serve to a large number of customers daily and most of them habitually pay the bill using payment cards. The confusion of the uncertainty was that the communication systems of the bank were down and shop individuals could not discover why the card do not work for several hours. The bank declared that it has summoned in external security consultants on February 14 morning, has checked its IT systems and surveyed various of its services during the night.
“Customers may now once again make use of BOV services through the Bank’s branch network across Malta and Gozo, ATMs, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking and by making use of their BOV cards when effecting purchases,” they bank stated. “Payments to third parties is currently the only service not yet activated. Developments in this regard will be communicated through future press releases.”
Maltese Bank of Valletta also suggested its customers to be careful of any appeals for their private or account information and affirmed that they will never demand for customer information through telephone, emails or social platforms.
