"The National Bank of Angola recorded, on January 6, 2024, a cybersecurity incident, mitigated by the Institution's cybersecurity system, without significant impacts on its infrastructure and data", the note reads.
Following the incident, the BNA claims to have ensured "in a controlled manner" access to technological infrastructures and, consequently, "the safe and efficient provision of institutional services".
In the statement, the BNA highlights that its "information systems security management strategy" follows "internationally accepted standards, principles and guidelines".
"The processes referenced above provide for the adoption and implementation of mechanisms that best address such situations in the most diverse aspects, whether in the identification and monitoring phase or in the cybersecurity risk treatment phase, including forensic analysis", he adds.
In conclusion, the BNA guarantees that it "will continue to ensure the necessary measures, aiming to guarantee the security, integrity, reliability and availability of the information systems of financial institutions, which are operating normally".
The BNA statement comes one day after the Maka Angola portal, run by activist and journalist Rafael Marques, announced that the computer attack, which it claims to have occurred on the 8th, "hit the bank's database and its essential services ".
"As of the date of this publication, the BNA continued without effective control of its IT system and without access to shared folders, institutional emails and other services", Maka Angola then wrote.
According to the portal run by Rafael Marques, the computer attack, which it classifies as 'ransomware', "paralyzed, for more than 24 hours, the Real-Time Payments System (SPTR), which handles interbank operations throughout the country, including State financial operations in kwanzas".
"In turn, the SPTR is interconnected with the BNA's Integrated Markets and Asset Management System (SIGMA), where all asset market transactions are carried out, namely the purchase and sale of treasury and central bank securities" , added Maka Angola.
