These are not the best of times for Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) as it appears the bank’s website have been compromised by suspected hackers.
GTBank, established in 1990, is one of Nigeria’s most prominent banks, with outlets nationwide and across Africa, serving millions of customers in the country and other countries on the continent.
The bank’s official website was not accessible on Wednesday night, and the incident came curiously a day after the domain name was renewed for another five years from August 13, 2024, through March 21, 2029, according to multiple online platforms that analyse domain information.
As at 8:00am on Thursday, checks by THE WITNESS show the website is still down.
Already, the attackers appeared to have created another HTTP layer of the website in an apparent ploy to steal customers’ data through phishing.
Phishing is the fraudulent practice of sending emails or other messages purporting to be from reputable companies in order to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as passwords, bank details and credit card numbers.
A cybersecurity expert with experience in the Nigerian banking industry said it was possible that the bank’s login details were compromised, as against the domain address itself being stolen for a resale at a more lucrative deal online.
GTBank’s customers have already started expressing their frustration about the incident, with many commenting on social media platform X that they could not open the website to conduct transactions.
Some of the bank’s representatives on X urged customers to be patient and send their requests to a designated channel.
The bank’s mobile infrastructure did not appear to have been affected, as Android and iOS-based applications were still in operation as of late Wednesday night.
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