Bank of America outage leaves customers with ZERO BALANCE in their accounts

Me: If you had a healthy balance in your bank account and now there is nothing - how does the bank put back what you have lost, if your bank does not have a record of what it has lost?

Bank of America outage leaves customers with ZERO BALANCE in their accounts

By Ramon Tomey // Oct 07, 2024

An outage that hit Bank of America (BofA) has left customers with zero balance in their accounts.

According to the National Pulse, an "unknown number" of BofA account holders experienced the glitch on Oct. 2. Thousands of customers reported being unable to access their bank accounts, while those who were able to do so found that they either had zero or missing balances.

Many complained of outages and disruptions online, posting their predicament on the Downdetector website. Others took to social media platforms X and Reddit to express their concerns. While some users reported their balances missing, debt amounts were still visible.

The bank's app confirmed the situation by notifying users that accounts and balances are temporarily unavailable. According to the Pulse, BofA "boasts 58 million clients utilizing its digital services."

"Some clients are experiencing an issue accessing their accounts and balance information," BofA said in a statement. "These issues are being addressed and have largely been resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience."

Was BofA targeted by a cyberattack?

Several account holders lamented the glitch on the X platform. One user wrote: "Anyone else showing $0 in their Bank of America accounts currently?"

"There's some kind of glitch on the BofA website that shows $0 in all accounts," another user wrote. "Honestly, I think they owe everybody some cash for pain and suffering because that was extremely stressful for a second there."

User @alexxiscummings also lamented about the issue, noting the same zero-balance problems and the app being inaccessible. "[I] can't call customer support either, because they just hang up – saying they can't accept calls right now," the user wrote. "Did they get hacked?"

Even journalist Elijah Schaffer of the Gateway Pundit experienced the glitch. "My personal and business BofA accounts were wiped to $0 in this alleged cyberattack," he wrote.

According to the Pulse, the glitch that struck BofA "follows other notable service outages … including those experienced by Spotify, Verizon and PlayStation."

"While it is unknown whether the disruptions may be related to possible cyberattacks, hostile hacking operations against the U.S. have increased in recent years," the outlet added. "The number of cyberattacks on the U.S. power grid also increased last year, with at least 94 attacks on crucial electronic infrastructure in the first half of 2023."

Last year, hackers backed by Iran broke into the water infrastructure of a Pennsylvania town. The Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa (MWAA) confirmed the incident, noting that a water pump on a drinking water supply line was targeted.

According to Fox News, the Iranian hackers shut down a remotely controlled device that monitors and regulates water pressure at a pumping station. A possible reason for the hack was the fact that the machine was Israeli-made. (Related: FOREIGN HACKERS target water infrastructure in Pennsylvania, prompting calls for increased cybersecurity.)

"If you told me to list 10 things that would go wrong with our water authority, this would not be on the list," said MWAA Chairman Matthew Mottes. Fox News continued that customers in Aliquippa weren't affected as crews quickly switched to manual operation.

While the MWAA has a built-in manual backup system, not every water authority is the same as this one. Thus, the water authority's hacking is prompting new warnings from U.S. security officials and cybersecurity experts.

"That story is tens of thousands of utilities across the country," said Robert Lee, CEO of industrial cybersecurity company Dragos. Given the MWAA's story, his company has begun offering free access to its online support and software that helps detect vulnerabilities and threats for water and electric utilities that draw under $100 million in revenue.

NewsTarget

Me: If you had a healthy balance in your bank account and now there is nothing - how does the bank put back what you have lost, if your bank does not have a record of what it has lost?