Cyberattack on Janata Bank Website

The website of the state-owned Janata Bank was taken offline as a precautionary measure to mitigate the risk of a cyberattack. Subsequently, signs of an attack were detected on the site. With spam identified in at least two locations, the bank’s IT department officials have been unable to restore the website, as security cannot yet be guaranteed.

Although banking operations resumed on Sunday (October 25) following the holidays, the Janata Bank website remained inaccessible as of 11:30 AM. The bank’s IT department is currently working to resolve the identified issues.

A senior official from the bank’s IT department informed the media that evidence of a cyberattack was found in two areas of the website. While the process of repairing these areas and restoring security is taking some time, officials expect the website to be back online within the day (Sunday).

Previously, the websites of both Bangladesh Bank and Janata Bank had been temporarily taken offline starting last Thursday (October 22) due to concerns regarding potential global cyberattacks.

On October 21, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and other relevant international organizations issued a joint warning. The alert highlighted two critical security vulnerabilities in PHP—a programming language widely used in website development.

The warning noted that cybercriminals could exploit these vulnerabilities to execute malicious code on affected servers remotely. To address these risks, it was advised to promptly apply security updates and, if necessary, temporarily disconnect vulnerable web applications from the internet.

Following this alert, both Bangladesh Bank and Janata Bank implemented enhanced security measures. While the central bank’s website was restored on Sunday morning, the Janata Bank website could not be brought back online due to the detection of signs of an attack. It remains unconfirmed, however, whether the global PHP vulnerabilities were the specific cause of the attack on Janata Bank’s website.

Meanwhile, as the position of Managing Director at Janata Bank is currently vacant, no official statement has been provided by the bank’s top management. On October 19, the government terminated the remaining tenure of the bank’s then-Managing Director, Mujibur Rahman. Although the bank’s IT department is optimistic about relaunching the website, no definitive timeline has been provided for the completion of security restoration efforts.