Banks are fear of cyber-attack risk

Enhanced security measures

Mahfuz Emran: Banks have taken extensive precautionary measures in view of the threat of cyber-attacks in the digital world of Bangladesh.
They are working round-the-clock on the security of the database as well as making the customers aware. Keeping a close eye on own web pages and server systems. Who is entering there, what they are doing, how long they are staying, when they are leaving, data transfer etc. are kept under constant monitoring.
On Friday, Bangladesh government’s Computer Incident Response Team or Central SERT has issued a warning about cyber security. On July 31, a hacker group threatened, “On August 15, we will bring a storm of cyber-attacks to the digital world of Bangladesh.”
In this context, CERT has issued a warning by collecting information about the hacker group through research in their own cyber clinic.
Banks and financial institutions, healthcare and all types of public and private organizations with critical information infrastructures have been advised to be vigilant to be protected from this potential cyber-attack.
After receiving this warning, the banks have been warned by the cyber security unit of the central bank. At the same time, they are getting warnings from the central SERT.
In light of this, measures have also been taken. Because all banks including central banks have cyber response teams. They are constantly engaged in data protection.
Besides, a separate option called Cyber Security Alert has been opened on the central bank’s web page. It is adding various information about cyber, from which banks and financial institutions can update their systems with necessary information.
In this context, Central Bank Director and Assistant Spokesperson Sarwar Hossain told Daily Industry that a letter was received from the Cyber Security Response Team of Bangladesh Computer Council on Friday. It was given on the same day in the WhatsApp group of banks and financial institutions.
In light of this, they have been asked to take necessary measures. The central bank is also working in this regard. Yesterday instructions have been given officially from the central bank to commercial banks and financial institutions. However, after receiving that letter, commercial banks and financial institutions have already started working to strengthen their cyber security.
According to the sources, the bank’s web pages have been added with the account information of the bank’s customers and the customers can do online transactions by entering their own username and password through the web page, those banks have now been asked to be more careful.
Customers can enter and transact on the web pages of some banks including foreign City Bank NA, private sector Bank Asia, Eastern Bank, City Bank. The SERT has been asked to continuously monitor who accesses the web pages of such banks, how long they are staying, what they are doing etc. It has also been asked to look closely whether someone new is entering or not.
Banks have already started these works. Even on Saturday, IT department officials of many banks worked to take precautionary measures.
Banks have alerted all their branches and ATM booths after receiving the warning from Central SERT and Central Bank. As a result, extra precautions are now being taken in online transactions and ATM booths as well. At the same time, several intelligence agencies of the government have also taken precautionary measures.
According to sources, various steps have been taken by the banks to make customers aware. In this, it is advised to never share the customer’s bank account full number, PIN, CVV, OTP and expiry date with anyone.
Because by collecting information from these, hackers can use it to steal money from the account. Banks never want to know confidential card or account information. As a result, they will never tell anyone.
Besides, the card or PIN number cannot be transferred or shared with anyone during transaction at the ATM booth. There is a danger of stealing money by using them. Fraudsters can use various tricks to get hold of the card or PIN number – always be careful.
While doing online transactions on various websites including e-commerce with credit card, debit card, the accuracy of the respective website should be checked in advance.
Because, now there are many phishing or fake websites that look exactly the same in the name of various reputed companies. In which user name or pin number is given to hackers. Those websites are also created by hackers and released online. For this reason, customers as well as banks or financial institutions should be aware of those phishing or fake websites.
Customers are asked to refrain from giving the information if someone calls from the call center of a bank or financial institution and says, ‘You need to update your personal information or PIN number’. Customers can also be called by cloning (fraudulently creating the same number) different phone numbers. Customers should be aware of these issues.
Sources also said that currently all banks do online transactions. They are also involved with various online systems of central banks. As a result, state-of-the-art firewalls have been added to the security of online servers of central banks and commercial banks. They are also being modernized. Precautionary measures have also been taken in the ATM booths of banks including online banking.
Now an Indian hacker group has threatened a cyber-attack. Earlier, hacker groups of various countries including North Korea have threatened. In this case, there is an opportunity to contact the concerned country to identify the hacker group and take legal action against them, cyber experts said.
It is learned that according to the advice of SERT, the banks should keep the network infrastructure under surveillance for 24 hours, especially after the office hours, and whether anyone is removing the information or not, it is being monitored all the time. Banks are deploying modern firewalls for online security and technology to filter malicious requests and traffic patterns.
At the same time, backup of all website information is being kept in an alternate location. So that there is no major damage even if it is a victim of cyber-attack. If anything, suspicious is noticed, the central SERT is immediately informed.