High Cyber-Attack Alert in Bangladesh: Bangladesh Bank Website Taken Temporarily Offline to Avert Risk

After two serious security flaws were identified in the PHP programming language, the main website of Bangladesh Bank has been kept temporarily offline to avert the risk of a cyber attack. The central bank's move, amid a high cyber-attack alert across the country, has raised fresh concern about digital security.

On Thursday (22 October), a Bangladesh Bank official said this is not a problem of Bangladesh Bank alone; the website has been kept closed as part of precautionary measures being taken worldwide. It will be reopened once the risk assessment is complete.

Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan also said this is not a problem unique to Bangladesh, but a precautionary step being taken around the world. The central bank's technologists and engineers are reviewing the level of risk and are working to restore the website as quickly as possible after ensuring protection.

According to the international news agency AFP, by exploiting this particular PHP flaw, cyber attackers can execute unauthorised commands on a server remotely, without any password. As a result, there is a major risk that confidential files, databases and sensitive information on the server could be stolen or damaged.

The central bank's website is one of the main official sources of information on the country's financial sector. Countless people rely on it every day for monetary policy, exchange rates, banking directives and other important information. The precautionary closure of such a site underlines the seriousness of the situation.

The concern is not limited to Bangladesh. Government institutions and digital services in countries including France, the Netherlands and Belgium have also reportedly been temporarily secured. This simultaneous activity around the world shows that security agencies are treating the flaw as extremely serious.

Central bank sources also said that several banks whose websites are built on the PHP platform have kept them temporarily closed for security reasons. As a result, some banking customers may face temporary difficulty in obtaining information.

However, officials of the government's Aspire to Innovate (a2i) project have clarified that the roughly 36,500 government websites under the National Portal Framework are not built on PHP. They are therefore not directly exposed to this particular risk, although the technical protection of other government websites is also being examined for safety.

Alongside the news of some websites being closed to avert risk, a 'high alert' for cyber attacks has also been issued in the country. In other words, the authorities are taking preventive measures not merely in reaction to a single flaw, but in anticipation of possible attacks.

It is worth noting that keeping a website closed does not mean an attack has succeeded. In the language of security specialists, temporarily taking a service offline after a vulnerability is identified—until a patch or protection is ensured—is a precautionary practice followed worldwide, as it reduces the risk of data theft in advance.

When the Bangladesh Bank website will be restored depends on the outcome of the risk review. The central bank says the site will be brought back as quickly as possible once security is ensured.

All in all, the episode shows how a flaw in a single programming language can put the digital services of an entire country, including its central bank, on alert. All eyes are now on the authorities' next announcement and on the restoration of the websites.