Contrary to initial reports of a cyber attack, Guaranty Trust Bank’s (GTBank) website outage was likely caused by a delay in renewing its domain name, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The bank’s website was offline for two days, sparking concerns of a cyber attack, but insiders reveal that the issue was due to a problem with the website’s domain name system (DNS) configuration.
GTBank reportedly forgot to renew ownership of its domain name, leaving it vulnerable to potential exploitation. However, experts say the issue can be resolved by reporting the matter to the domain host and undergoing a few processes.
This is not an isolated incident, as even Google has experienced similar lapses in the past. Experts suggest that GTBank can retrieve its website by reporting the issue and completing the necessary processes, which may take some time.
While some customers can access the website, others still face difficulties, which may be attributed to DNS propagation or security features like HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS).
It could also be caused by a security feature called HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) that forces browsers to connect to the website only over a secure encrypted connection. Banks use this feature to secure customer information
Despite initial fears, there is no evidence to suggest that GTBank’s website outage was caused by a cyber attack, and the issue is likely a result of technical oversight.
