SBP instructs banks after ‘cyber attack’ on Bank Islami network

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan has issued instructions to all the banks after Bank Islami reported ‘cyber attack’ on its payment cards network.

In a letter to the Pakistan Stock Exchange, the bank informed the PSX about the security breach.

“On the morning of October 27, 2018 certain abnormal transactions valuing Rs 2.6 million were detected by the Bank on one of its international payment card scheme. The Bank immediately took precautionary steps which, interalia, included shutting its international payment scheme. All monies withdrawn from accounts i.e. Rs 2.6 million have been credited in the respective accounts,” it said.

Following the incident, the SBP issued directives to all banks to foster arrangements to ensure security of all payment cards in the country and monitor on real-time basis usage activity of their cards, especially overseas transactions.

The following directives have been issued to all banks in Pakistan to ensure that:

1. Security measures on all IT systems including those related to card operations are continuously updated to meet any challenges in future.
   
2. Resources are deployed to ensure the 24/7 real time monitoring of card operations related systems and transactions.
   
3. Immediately coordinate with all the payment schemes, switch operators and media service providers the banks are integrated with to identify any malicious activity of suspicious transactions.