“BOV is working relentlessly to restore its full payment services as soon as possible. Further developments will be communicated to customers,” the bank said when announcing the restored SEPA payment services.

On Wednesday, BOV shut down services after they learnt that the bank’s systems had been compromised in a cyberattack that falsified transfers valued at €13m. The bank restored some services on Thursday morning.

Unknown sources, questionable restoring of funds

At this point, it is still too early to say who stands behind the attack and the bank says it is making its best efforts in related to recovering the funds, according to a Times of Malta report citing Kenneth Farrugia, Chief Business Development Officer at BOV.

It is difficult to say, however, when the funds will be restored, and whether they can be restored in their entirety, according to another Times of Malta report.

Due to the complexity of international transactions, the bank expects not to be able to retrieve all the money falsified in the cyberattack. In Mr Farrugia said although they can see which banks the money went to, it is not “simply a matter of asking the banks for the money to be reversed”, the Times of Malta reported.

However, Mr Farrugia said that the accounts of clients remained untouched. He also added that no breach of personal data of the bank’s clients had taken place.

The post BOV restores SEPA payment, works hard post-attack first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.

“Customers may now once again make use of BOV services through the Bank’s branch network across Malta and Gozo, ATMs, Internet Banking, Mobile Banking and by making use of their BOV cards when effecting purchases. Payments to third parties is currently the only service not yet activated. Developments in this regard will be communicated through future press releases,” the statement issued by BOV says.

BOV says the customer deposits and customer accounts of the clients stayed unaffected by the cyber attack, adding that the bank’s contingency plan and preventive measures safeguarded the bank, customers and stakeholders.

Upon apologising for the inconvenience, the bank asks for the patience and support of the general public and media. At the same time BOV thanks its internal and external staff for their hard work in this matter.

“The bank reminds its customers to be wary of any requests for their personal or account details. Bank of Valletta will never ask for customer details through any channel such as social media, emails or telephone. Should there be any such requests, customers are to contact the Bank’s Customer Service Centre on +356 2131 2020,” the bank statement adds.

Service shutdown due to cyberattack

BOV announced early Wednesday morning that the institution’s system fell victim to a hacking attempt, and operations needed to be shut down. The breach was discovered during reconciliations the bank regularly performs.

After running investigations in the matter, BOV found that eleven payments had been initiated to foreign payment accounts in a total value of €13m, the Malta Independent reported. BOV immediately requested the international banks involved to halt transactions.

Later on Wednesday, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat confirmed that the attack falsified transfers in euros, American dollars and British pound sterling — with a total worth of €13m — to foreign banks in the UK, the US, Czech Republic and Hong Kong, according to another report by the Malta Independent.

Answering questions by Opposition Leader Adrian Delia, PM Muscat said that the money of the bank’s clients “was safe”, and an internal enquiry will be called for. Mr Delia said he considers the hacking attempt as an attack against the whole country.

The Malta Independent notes that as BOV accounts for approximately half of the country’s transactions, the short hiatus in bank services can have an impact on Malta’s economy both domestically and abroad.

The cyberattack is followed by police investigations, as well as a Magisterial enquiry.

The post BOV resumes some operations post-cyberattack first appeared on The Malta Business Weekly.