Bank of America Plagued by Online, Mobile Outages
By: Bank of America experienced widespread outages Friday on its website and mobile banking apps due to an internal technical malfunction, according to a person familiar with the situation.
For several hours, access to BofA's online banking portal was intermittent at best, with many customers unable to access their accounts for the entirety of the business day. Those seeking refuge on their smartphones' mobile apps found an error message claiming the product was "temporarily unavailable."
"We're aware of the issue and are addressing as quickly as possible," said Mark Pipitone, technology and operations spokesperson for Bank of America. "We're also working closely with our customers to help alleviate any concerns."
The bank's ATMs were functioning normally, he said.
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In September, more than half a dozen banks – including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Suntrust, PNC, and US Bancorp, saw pervasive disruption to their websites. At the time, NBC News reported that the government of Iran was behind the attacks, according to national security officials.
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Mobile banking, however, is insulated from such cyberattacks; such an effort requires accessing each user's smartphone independently. Today's service outage at Bank of America knocked out its mobile app as well, though the details of the internal malfunction that occurred are unclear.
For customers, the biggest concern seems to be that the outages hit on the first day of the month, when many bills are due.
(Read More: JPMorgan Chase Consumer Website Suffers Outage)
A sampling of the Twitter outrage:
- Vicky Atherton, @VLAtherton: "Bank of America online and mobile banking crashing all day when I need to pay bills due today is a problem #boacrash"
- Lesley Abravanel, @lesleyabravanel: "@BofA_News More important breaking news from y'all would be as to when your website is back up and running. I've got bills to pay!"
- Margie Cortez, @beawesomemargie : "Ugh, Bank of America I just want to check my balance & pay my bills!"
- Brendan Finnegan, @BFinnMusic: "@BofA_News @BofA_Community BofA website and mobile app down on the 1st of the month...Not like any of us have bills to pay today..."
… For customers owing bills to the bank itself, hopefully there will be a one-day reprieve.
(Read More: Amazon.com Website Back After Outage)
—By CNBC's Kayla Tausche; Follow her on Twitter: @KaylaTausche
