Singapore banks not affected by Heartbleed bug

SINGAPORE — Banks in Singapore have been seeking to reassure customers that their websites are not vulnerable to the recently uncovered “Heartbleed” bug that exposes data to hackers.

Researchers have observed sophisticated hacking groups conducting automated scans of the Internet in search of Web servers running a widely used web encryption program known as OpenSSL that makes them vulnerable to the theft of data, including passwords, confidential communications and credit card numbers.

DBS told TODAY that it is not affected by this vulnerability and it has multiple layers of security in place to protect customers.

“We understand that security is a key concern for Internet banking users, and DBS is committed to providing our customers with a safe and secure online banking environment,” a spokesperson said.

HSBC said it has been investigating the issue across its systems globally and it has not found any Internet systems that are impacted, although it will continue to review and monitor the situation closely.

A Citi spokesperson said the bank has conducted an analysis and has no reason to believe that its customer-facing websites are susceptible to the Heartbleed vulnerability.

“We encourage our customers to change their passwords regularly and never reuse the same login credentials across multiple websites,” the spokesperson added.

OCBC said that it does not use OpenSSL for its websites.