The websites of Bangladesh Bank, the land services department and six banks remain offline due to a security vulnerability identified in PHP, a widely used programming language for website development.
The websites have been temporarily taken down to avoid potential cyber risks and assess the security of their technological infrastructure. The websites were found offline at around 11:00am on Saturday.
Bangladesh Bank has kept its website offline since Thursday. Following the central bank's move, several other banks also shut down their websites as a precautionary measure. The banks are Agrani Bank, Janata Bank, IFIC Bank, Standard Islami Bank, SBAC Bank and Bengal Commercial Bank.
The banks concerned said the measure had been taken to avoid potential cyber risks and assess the security of their technological infrastructure. The websites will be restored once the security assessments and necessary measures are completed.
Meanwhile, in response to the PHP security vulnerability, the Ministry of Land has also taken its digital land services website offline for maintenance.
According to an announcement by the ministry, the maintenance work is scheduled to continue for 36 hours, from midnight between Thursday and Friday until noon on Saturday. During this period, land services will not be available through the website land.gov.bd.
On 22 October, the government's cyber security agency, BGD e-GOV CIRT, issued an urgent alert regarding the PHP security vulnerability. It advised relevant organisations to identify the use of PHP on their servers, check whether the versions in use were vulnerable and take necessary security measures.
PHP is a widely used programming language for developing websites and web applications. Security vulnerabilities in PHP can put the security of related software and servers at risk. As a precaution, various organisations are assessing the security of their websites and technological infrastructure.