Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) has issued an official statement addressing reports concerning the alleged compromise of its website by hackers.
GTBank says in a statement made available to Technology Times that while there was an isolated attempt to breach their web domain, its website was not cloned, and no customer data was compromised.
On Wednesday, GTBank customers began reporting difficulties accessing the bank’s official website, with many taking to social media service, X, to express concerns. Reports indicate that this disruption occurred shortly after the bank renewed its domain name. The unauthorised attempt appears to have been aimed at intercepting customer login credentials, a common phishing tactic.
However, GTBank has assured its customers that their data remains secure, and there was no unauthorised access to customer information.
“While there was an isolated incident of an attempt to compromise our website domain, we would like to assure all our customers and stakeholders that the bank’s website has not been cloned and that we do not store customer information on our website, and as such, there has been no instance of compromise of customer data,” GT Bank statement says.
“While there was an isolated incident of an attempt to compromise our website domain, we would like to assure all our customers and stakeholders that the bank’s website has not been cloned and that we do not store customer information on our website, and as such, there has been no instance of compromise of customer data,” GT Bank statement says.
According to the bank, in response to the incident, GTBank’s Information Security team is working around the clock to restore full access to the website. The bank has also requested that customers disregard any misleading information in the media about the incident.
This incident highlights the growing challenges that Nigerian banks face in terms of cybersecurity. Despite significant investments in IT infrastructure by financial institutions, such incidents are becoming more frequent.
A report by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) titled “The Impact of Cybercrime on the Nigerian Economy and Banking System provides a detailed analysis of cybercrime in the Nigerian banking industry. The NDIC report reveals that cybercrime, particularly through ATM and internet channels, has contributed significantly to fraud losses within the banking sector, with a loss of ₦1.058 billion in 2016, contributing 43.26% to total fraud losses.
Reports indicate that GTBank’s mobile banking applications remain fully operational, meaning that the breach was contained to the website alone. The bank’s customers are encouraged to continue using alternative channels such as mobile apps for their banking needs until the website is fully restored.
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