Malta’s largest bank was the target of a cyber attack Wednesday, with hackers attempting to withdraw 13 million euros ($14.7 million), Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said.
The Bank of Valletta, in which the government is the largest shareholder, shut down its systems, closing branches and ATMs, and suspending mobile and Internet banking and internal email. Its website also went offline.
Customer accounts were ‘in no way impacted or compromised’ and normal services would resume as soon as possible, the bank said.
Hackers attempted to transfer funds to banks in the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Britain, and the US, Muscat told parliament.
The transactions had been traced and were ‘being reversed’, he said.