BB website restored after cyber security fix

The central bank's website was taken offline on Thursday (October 22) and remained inaccessible until early Sunday morning. It was officially brought back online at 8:00 AM on Sunday (October 25) following a thorough security assessment.

Bangladesh Bank officials noted that the shutdown was not an isolated issue, but part of a global precautionary measure. The site was reactivated after completing a comprehensive risk analysis.

Bangladesh Bank spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan confirmed that the website was temporarily closed due to urgent security concerns and confirmed its restoration as of 8:00 AM.

Central bank sources stated that IT specialists worked to identify and resolve the vulnerabilities. Several other banks using PHP-based systems also temporarily suspended their websites as a safety measure.

According to a report by AFP, attackers could exploit the PHP flaw to execute unauthorized commands remotely on servers without requiring passwords. This vulnerability exposed server files, databases, and sensitive data to risk, prompting government institutions and digital services in France, the Netherlands, and Belgium to take similar precautionary steps.

However, experts clarified that not all websites using PHP are vulnerable, as risk levels depend on the version used, security updates, and existing server safeguards.

Officials from the government's Aspire to Innovate (a2i) project stated that nearly 36,500 websites under the National Portal Framework are not built on PHP and were not directly exposed to this flaw. Nevertheless, technical checks were conducted on other public sector websites.

Meanwhile, the BGD e-Gov CIRT issued a cyber security alert, advising organizations to check their PHP versions and apply necessary security patches. It also recommended restricting server access and monitoring unauthorized connections if immediate updates were not feasible.