State Bank issues instructions after cyber attack on private bank

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday issued a set of instructions to a number of banks after one of the private banks system came under a cyber-attack.

After the massive attack through which millions of rupees were withdrawn via bank cards, the SBP temporarily suspended the use of affected bank’s cards for overseas transactions.

“As a result of security breach of payment cards of one of the banks in Pakistan yesterday and their unauthorized use on different delivery channels i.e. at ATMs and POS in different countries, the bank has temporarily restricted usage of its cards for overseas transactions,” the State Bank said in a statement.

“The State Bank has instructed the bank to take all necessary measures to trace the vulnerability and fix it immediately. The affected bank has also been instructed to issue advisory on precautionary measures to be taken by customers,” it added.

The central bank further directed all other Pakistani banks to ensure security of payment cards and to monitor their usage activity, especially overseas transactions, on a real-time basis.

The bank, which came under online attack, was also particularly instructed to issue necessary security instructions for its customers in the wake of the cyber-attack.