ISLAMABAD: A cyberattack targeted a section of the computer system at the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and caused disruption which may result in payment delays for thousands of government employees.
According to Samaa News, NBP President Arif Usmani has confirmed the cyber attack and said the hackers failed to gain access to the NBP’s main servers, though they did take control of some of the computers running Microsoft’s software.
Giving further details about the incident, the National Bank president said that the cyberattack was launched on the night between Friday and Saturday. The NBP has invested heavily in its cyber security in recent months.
The cyberattack disrupted NPB services throughout the country, prompting fears that the payment of salaries and pensions to public sector employees would be delayed. Last year, it denied reports of data breach when skimming devices were found on one of its ATMs in Islamabad.
Earlier in August, hackers attacked Pakistan’s largest data centre run by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and managed to break the hyper-V software by Microsoft, bringing down all the official websites operated by the tax machinery.
“There has been a national crisis like situation since 2.00 am Saturday morning and we may not be out of the woods by Sunday evening,” a senior official said while explaining the gravity of the situation to The Express Tribune.
