Bangladesh Bank website remains offline for 3rd consecutive day

The Bangladesh Bank website remained inaccessible for a third consecutive day on Saturday following a global cybersecurity alert. The site has been taken offline as a precautionary measure to ensure its security. However, connections between the central bank and commercial banks, as well as financial operations, remain unaffected.

The website could not be accessed as of 10:30am on Saturday, October 24. Visitors attempting to open it were greeted with a maintenance notice.

According to central bank sources, the website was taken offline on Thursday, October 22, after a global cybersecurity alert was received. Since then, efforts have been under way to review the site's security and strengthen its defences.

Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson for Bangladesh Bank, said the website would not be restored until its security was fully ensured. He added that connections with commercial banks remained normal. No specific timeline has yet been set for restoring the website.

Meanwhile, concerns about global cybersecurity have intensified following the discovery of serious security vulnerabilities in PHP, a widely used programming language. Cybersecurity firms Calif and Wiz reportedly identified the vulnerabilities using artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

Against this backdrop, the government has also issued an alert over global cybersecurity vulnerabilities. As part of the response, Bangladesh Bank has taken precautionary measures to safeguard its website.