Bangladesh Bank and several institutions offline due to PHP vulnerability

The websites of Bangladesh Bank, six commercial banks, and the government’s digital land services portal have been taken offline as a precautionary measure following a global security vulnerability identified in the PHP programming language.

In addition to the central bank, the affected commercial banks include Agrani Bank, Janata Bank, IFIC Bank, Standard Islami Bank, SBAC Bank, and Bengal Commercial Bank. These institutions are reviewing their technological infrastructure to mitigate potential cyber threats. The Ministry of Land also suspended its digital land services website for maintenance in response to the alert.

The government’s cyber security agency, BGD e-GOV CIRT, issued an urgent alert regarding the PHP flaw, advising organizations to identify vulnerable installations and implement security patches. While experts note there is currently no immediate large-scale financial panic, the vulnerability poses risks to personal data, financial information, and service continuity. One hospital website was reportedly affected by a cyberattack during this period.