…Customers Stranded Without Access to Banking Services
In a significant breach of digital security, GTBank, one of Nigeria’s leading financial institutions, has fallen victim to a high-profile cyberattack. Late Wednesday night, it was discovered that the bank’s official website, gtbank.com, had been taken offline under suspicious circumstances.
The incident occurred shortly after the domain was renewed for an additional five years, with coverage extending from August 13, 2024, to March 21, 2029. Despite the domain’s recent renewal, it appears that attackers managed to hijack the site, initiating the breach on August 14.
At present, no hacker group has claimed responsibility for the attack. The nature of the breach indicates that the perpetrators may have used sophisticated phishing tactics to create a counterfeit version of the website, aimed at stealing users’ login credentials.
Cybersecurity experts have expressed concern that this attack may have compromised sensitive customer information. The breach has elicited a strong reaction from GTBank’s customer base, many of whom have voiced frustration on social media due to the inaccessibility of the bank’s website, which is currently unreachable.
GTBank representatives have been criticized for their lack of response, further heightening customer anxiety. In response to the outage, the bank has directed customers to a dedicated support channel for assistance.
As GTBank works to regain control of its website, speculation arises regarding the possibility of an inside job, partly due to perceptions about the bank’s compensation practices for tech professionals.
The process of reclaiming the domain is expected to be complex and time-consuming. As of the latest update, GTBank’s website remains inaccessible at gtbank.com.
Olasunkanmi Oduntan, the publisher of ‘The New Dawn Online News – TNDOnlineNews’, writes from Lagos, Nigeria.