National Bank of Pakistan reports cyberattack on its servers

• No customer or financial data has been compromised so far, NBP says.
• Central bank clarifies that no other bank had reported such an incident. 
• NBP hopes customer services will be restored by Monday morning.

KARACHI: The National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has reported a cyberattack on its servers which has impacted “some of the bank’s services.”

However, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday said that no financial loss or data breach has been observed.

“NBP has reported a cybersecurity-related incident which is being investigated. NBP has not observed any data breach or financial loss,” the central bank announced on its official Twitter handle.

Meanwhile, it further clarified that no other bank had reported such an incident.

The central bank further said it is monitoring the situation closely to ensure the safety and soundness of the banking system.

Confirming the news, the National Bank said that in the late hours of October 29 and early morning of October 30, a cyberattack on the bank's servers was detected, which impacted some of its services.

The bank said that "immediate steps" were taken to isolate the affected systems. “At this point, no customer or financial data has been compromised,” it stated.

“Remediation efforts are underway using industry-leading subject matter experts including international resources where ever required,” the bank said in a statement.

It further added that currently, NBP's services to its customers are disrupted. However, NBP stressed that the bank is working to address the breach and is confident that essential customer services will be restored by Monday morning.