Hackers attacked the websites of the Czech central bank, several top commercial banks and the Prague Stock Exchange, slowing or shutting down online services.

The largest Czech bank, CSOB, said the attack which disabled its online services in the morning had come from abroad. The online banking sites of Erste Group Bank’s Ceska Sporitelna, Société Générale’s Komercni Banka and some smaller banks suffered attacks that shut down their internet banking and other online services. The website of CSOB’s sister bank in neighbouring Slovakia was also hacked.

In a potentially more damaging spate of attacks in recent weeks, hackers targeted dozens of computer systems at government agencies in the Czech Republic, Ireland, Romania and other European counties, exploiting a security flaw in Adobe Systems’s software, researchers said last week. – Reuters