Cyberattack on the Justice Ministry's state registries: Will banks continue to operate, and what will happen to payment cards?

An expert stated: when it comes to servicing individuals, there are no issues with banks processing deposit accounts, opening accounts, issuing cards, or providing unsecured loans. "The lack of access to registers limits banks' ability to issue loans secured by collateral or mortgages, as placing encumbrances by the bank during the period of inaccessible registers is not feasible," says Viktor Didenko.

This means that due to the absence of access to registers, banks will be unable to issue new mortgage loans, since they are secured by real estate, information about which is currently unattainable (including within the framework of the state program "єOselya").

According to the expert, temporary difficulties in accessing registers over a short period (up to two weeks) will not significantly impact regular banking operations and services. "Client activity may slightly decrease, but overall, it will not have serious consequences," believes Didenko.

However, the halt in the operation of registers will definitely affect some transactions involving legal entities. This concerns new services, for instance, if a company seeks to obtain credit financing.

"Regarding previously identified legal entities (individual entrepreneurs), the restrictions in servicing may only pertain to new banking products that require the submission of information to temporarily 'non-operational registers.' For example: obtaining a new loan or making amendments to an existing loan secured by collateral, and in cases of changes to the structure of such collateral, require modifications to the encumbrance record, which is impossible during the period of inaccessible registers," says Viktor Didenko.

In general, the expert noted, the temporary halt of registers will not affect the structure of banking services. "This will temporarily impact client activity on specific issues, but without serious repercussions for the banking system as a whole," noted Viktor Didenko.

It should be reminded that the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine announced a massive failure in the network that services state registers, while Russian hackers claim to have hacked the "National Information Systems of Ukraine" and deleted all information from state registers.