Bangladesh Bank’s official website has remained inaccessible for a third consecutive day following a global cybersecurity alert. Officials took the portal offline as a precautionary measure, though the central bank confirmed that core banking operations and connectivity with commercial banks continue to function without disruption.
The site was taken offline on Thursday afternoon immediately after the central bank received warning notifications regarding widespread vulnerabilities. IT specialists at Bangladesh Bank have been monitoring security conditions and strengthening digital defences. Arif Hossain Khan, Executive Director and spokesperson for Bangladesh Bank, confirmed that the website remains closed until full security can be guaranteed. He noted that technical teams are actively working on the problem, though no official timeframe has been provided for restoring public access to the domain.
Visitors attempting to reach the website have been greeted by a standard maintenance message. The precautionary shutdown stems from global concerns surrounding a critical vulnerability discovered in the widely used PHP programming language. Cybersecurity firms Calif and Wiz identified these flaws using artificial intelligence technology, prompting governments and institutions worldwide to issue urgent alerts.
The decision to exercise extreme caution comes against the backdrop of Bangladesh Bank’s history with digital threats. In 2016, the central bank suffered one of the largest cyber heists in history, when hackers compromised its systems and fraudulently transferred 101 million US dollars from its account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That breach caused substantial reputational damage and led directly to the resignation of the central bank’s then governor, Atiur Rahman.
While technical teams work to patch system vulnerabilities and safeguard sensitive data infrastructure, regular interbank communications, financial clearing, and transactions across commercial institutions remain fully operational.
