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NatWest problems now resolved, says Bank NatWest: Website problems caused by deliberate attack
(about 1 hour later)
Problems affecting customers of NatWest's online banking operations have now been resolved, the bank has said. NatWest Bank has blamed earlier problems with its website on a series of deliberate attacks, known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS).
The issue lasted around 50 minutes on Friday, during which dozens of account holders took to Twitter to vent their frustration. It involved a surge of traffic, which resulted in many customers being unable to use the system.
Some complained that salary payments were not being paid; others that the website was very slow. Such attacks - which are typically malicious - can originate from thousands of different sources, making them difficult to block.
As yet there has been no explanation as to what went wrong. The issue lasted for about 50 minutes on Friday.
"We are aware that some customers experienced issues with online banking this morning," said a spokesperson for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which owns NatWest. "The issues that some customers experienced accessing online banking this morning were due to a surge in internet traffic deliberately directed at the website," said a spokesperson for Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which owns NatWest.
"This has now been resolved and our service is operating as normal. We apologise to those customers who experienced difficulties." Dozens of customers took to Twitter to vent their frustration.
The spokesman also told the BBC that the issue was "totally separate" to problems in June, when payments were held up for several days. Some complained that salary payments were not being paid, others that the website was very slow.
The bank said there was no risk to customers and that services were now operating as normal.
The issue is thought to be totally separate from problems in June, when payments were held up for several days.
At that time as many as 600,000 customers of RBS and NatWest suffered late payments.At that time as many as 600,000 customers of RBS and NatWest suffered late payments.
Salaries, tax credit and benefit payments were all affected.Salaries, tax credit and benefit payments were all affected.
RBS was also fined £56m by the regulator after a software upgrade in 2012 went wrong.RBS was also fined £56m by the regulator after a software upgrade in 2012 went wrong.
Up to 6.5 million customers were left unable to access their accounts.Up to 6.5 million customers were left unable to access their accounts.