KARACHI: A day after a cyberattack on the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), 1LINK — a consortium of 11 banks and Pakistan’s largest switch and payment system — has said there has been no disruption of any interoperable banking services during or after the cyberattack.

1LINK said in a statement on Sunday that “all transactions, both financial (ATM cash withdrawal,1IBFT — Inter Bank Funds Transfer and Bill Payments) and non-financial transactions (balance inquiry, title fetch and bill inquiry) are completely functional and safe”.

“There was no downtime from Oct 28 till now, and the transaction volumes suggest that customers are conducting transactions as usual,” it added.

The organisation said that the clarification was to dispel all rumours and to inform all banking customers that Pakistan’s payment systems and digital banking was safe, as neither customer data was compromised nor any compromise had been reported through 1LINK grid or its member banks.

It said that the State Bank of Pakistan, 1LINK and all banks were closely monitoring the situation to ensure continued safety and soundness of the banking and digital payments system.

NBP services functioning normal

The NBP announced on Sunday night it had successfully countered threats to its IT infrastructure and repaired the parts that had been damaged in the cyberattack. Consequently, the bank’s services, including ATM operations, would function normally on Monday (today).

A press release issued by the bank said: “NBP confirms that banking services including ATMs and the disbursement of salaries and pensions will be possible on Nov 1.”

The statement made it clear that customers’ financial data remained unaffected despite the attack. The bank’s branches will open as per schedule to ensure that the customers’ banking requirements are met as best as possible, it added.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2021