The Venezuelan government assures that they fell victim to a terrorist hack to disrupt and steal data. Millions of people had their daily lives altered by the situation.
Since Wednesday, Banco de Venezuela users have reported series of problems regarding their access to their accounts at the entity. The bank released a statement on Monday and stated that its services would get back to normal from 2 p.m.
The entity’s clients spent various days without being able to access their accounts. They could not send, receive, withdraw or deposit funds or make use of any other banking service. According to the information brought by the company, the struggle has already got solved by the technical team.
This situation affects a high percentage of people because this state bank is the most relevant entity in the country. According to a publication issued by the Ministry of Public Power of Economy, Finance and Foreign Trade, Banco de Venezuela counted on more than 16 million clients at that time.
In a post on Twitter, the Sectorial Vice Presidency for the Economy reported that the national financial system was the victim of a “terrorist attack” that affected, among other entities, the Bank of Venezuela.
A Massive Hack and the Vanishing of Banking Data
In the letter, there is a discussion about a massive hack that tried to make the banking data vanish from the financial system. On the other hand, the statement that appeared on September 17 brought further details bout the specialists working on the recovery and restitution of services phase.
These details also highlighted how the recovery took effect once the specialists managed to deactivate the attack. Likewise, the State guarantees the protection of the bank’s customer data and the registration of its operations.
Finally, the brief report also stated that the Sectorial Vice Presidency of Economy had requested the Public Ministry an investigation to find those responsible for the incident.
Hyperinflation and How Bitcoin Could Prevent it
The collapse of a banking system could harm millions of people. A disruption like this could complicate many people’s daily lives who need to use their savings to purchase food, medicine, and other necessary goods.
A possible alternative to solve this problem could be adopting a decentralized network that does not depend on a single server for its operation.
Venezuelans seem to be accepting this hypothesis as knowledge of the first cryptocurrency continues to increase in the country.
60% of the participants in a survey stated that they knew bitcoin (BTC). Also, 28% of the 6,305 individuals consulted clarified that they had already made payments with this digital asset.
Part of the 60% of citizens who claimed to know about the existence of the cryptocurrency designed by Satoshi Nakamoto said they had advanced knowledge of bitcoin. 6 out of 10 people (approximately 60%) had advanced knowledge.
The study got released on Friday, September 17. Right when the national banking system was going through difficult times in terms of its operation.
By: Jenson Nuñez
