Kathmandu. Commercial banks have become terrorized after the list of banks targeted by hackers with threats to hack Nepal's banking system became public. The list of 15 commercial banks targeted by hackers was made public on Wednesday. Nepal Rastra Bank spokesperson Dev Kumar Dhakal and assistant spokesperson Narayan Prasad Pokhrel also received threatening phone calls from foreign numbers.

None of the banks on the list have seen any problem so far. All banks are on high alert. A top bank official whose name is on the list is being closely monitored by his IT technicians.

The threatening letter sent through social media reads - we want to inform you who are reading this that we have taken control of the entire banking system. Then he mentioned the names of those banks. These include Nepal Rastra Bank, Kumari Bank, Nepal Bank, Nabil Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Machhapuchhre Bank, NMB Bank, NIC Asia Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Citizens Bank, Sanima Bank, SBI Bank, Everest Bank, Nepal Investment Bank and Himalayan Bank. 

The hackers have even warned to close all branches for 24 hours to avoid major damage. If so, the money will be withdrawn from all Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) and Electronics Clearing System (ECIS) or any other online or offline transactions.

The growing risk of cyber-attacks and the potential impact on banks is a top concern for financial institutions and governments around the world. So here is a brief discussion on how and why banks are at risk.

After hackers successfully stole १०० 100 million from Bangladesh's central bank in February 2016, fears of a major cyber attack on banks are growing. Soon after, Russian central bank officials revealed that hackers had stolen more than two billion rubles.

Many banks have seen millions of cyber-attacks there. However, we are safe because those attempts of the invaders failed. But hackers are also rapidly becoming sophisticated, which could lead to a bigger attack on banks.