Six Pakistani banks have temporarily suspended international transactions though debit cards.
“As a security precaution, your debit card has been temporarily disabled only for international ATM cash withdrawal,” a text message sent to customers by the banks read. Customers can, however, use their debit cards for local transactions.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had last week issued instructions regarding bank cards after a cyberattack on Bank Islami Pakistan. “As result of security breach of payment cards of one of the banks in Pakistan and their unauthorized use on different delivery channels i.e. at ATMs and POS in different countries, the bank has temporarily restricted usage of its cards for overseas transactions,” the central bank had said in a statement, directing all Pakistani banks to ensure security of payment cards and to monitor their usage activity, especially overseas transactions, on a real-time basis.
Published in Daily Times, November 4th 2018.
