What’s going on? Banks around the world experiencing power outages, leaving millions of customers stranded from their cash, assets

(NewsTarget, Oct 4, 2021)

The IT systems of banks around the world are being hit with denial-of-service attacks, and it’s unclear why or how long they will persist. But one thing is certain: When these outages occur, customers are cut off from their cash and assets, and that’s never a good thing.

According to a report by Naked Capitalism, 20 banks in six countries — one of which is on COVID lockdown — on five continents recently experienced these DDOS attacks, and collectively, millions of bank customers have been affected.

“There’s never a good time for your bank’s IT system to go down. But few can be worse than in the middle of a lockdown. It’s difficult to leave home, your local branch may not be open, and as a result you are more reliant than ever on digital banking services,” the report said.

For instance, in New Zealand, in its seventh consecutive week of COVID lockdown (despite the fact that there were just a tiny number of outbreaks of this virus which is highly recoverable), one of its biggest lenders, Kiwibank, lost its IT system last week, which left customers stranded.