Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) Denies Security Breach

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), with 30 million customers, has denied security breach. The bank suffered nationwide disruption and suspension of its services this week.

In an unprecedented development, all Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) branches including online banking and ATM services got suspended around 72 hours ago. Reportedly, the suspension happened after suspicious funds transfers by CBE account holders.

According to some CBE account holders, they were able to make money transfers to other accounts exceeding their account balance.

The National Bank of Ethiopia yesterday claimed that Saturday’s outage at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was caused by a systems upgrade. But reports from several Ethiopian universities of Ethiopia indicate that students made money by transferring and withdrawing money from their accounts while their accounts had almost no balance. 

While both National Bank of Ethiopia and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia deny report of any security breach or glitch, it seems that the 2 financial institutions are trying to protect their repute.

Meanwhile CBE has launched an investigation into Saturday’s incidents. But the denial by CBE of any security breach, technical glitch or cyber attack suggests that the outcome of the investigation is not likely to be made public.

Other Stories

Access Bank acquires National Bank of Kenya for $100 million

Tigray Interim Cabinet Approves Draft to form an Advisory Council

Ethiopian Commercial Bank launches campaign to recover loss of billions of Birrs