Bangladesh’s central government services portal, myGov, experienced an unexpected outage starting October 26, rendering the platform inaccessible to citizens and businesses nationwide. The portal, operated by Aspire to Innovate (a2i), went offline due to “urgent maintenance” aimed at addressing security vulnerabilities and enhancing service quality, authorities confirmed.

Users attempting to access mygov.bd encountered a “Web server is down” message alongside a Cloudflare error code 521, signaling that while the content delivery network was operational, the origin server was unresponsive. The outage prompted an emergency announcement from a2i, which stated the maintenance work would continue until midnight on October 27, warning of possible temporary disruptions during this period.

Muhammad Anwar Uddin, project director at a2i, explained the downtime was necessary to implement system upgrades. When questioned about potential links to vulnerabilities in PHP—a widely used programming language for web development—he acknowledged that certain PHP-related issues had been identified, requiring immediate attention. “Some issues have come up that are PHP-based, and some of our systems are outside PHP,” Uddin said, noting the upgrades were focused on strengthening protection measures.

Supporting this, an official from the Bangladesh e-Government Computer Incident Response Team (BGD e-GOV CIRT), the government’s cybersecurity agency, confirmed it had flagged PHP-related concerns concerning several a2i-managed websites. The agency has been active in issuing security advisories, including a notice on October 22 regarding PHP2Shell vulnerabilities—critical flaws that could allow attackers to execute malicious code without authentication.

CIRT’s recent high-severity alert highlighted continued use of outdated or unsupported PHP versions across various government and private institutions, urging swift patching or restricted access to mitigate risk. The vulnerability has already impacted multiple digital services: Bangladesh Bank’s website remained offline for over two days before restoration on October 26; the websites of six banks, including Agrani, Janata, and Bengal Commercial Bank, experienced outages beginning October 24, with some still offline by October 25; and the Ministry of Land suspended online services on land.gov.bd for approximately 36 hours starting midnight October 22.

While CIRT emphasized that outdated PHP versions do not inherently indicate breach incidents, the risk level depends on specific versions deployed, patch status, and exposure to public networks.

myGov serves as Bangladesh’s unified platform for government-to-citizen, business, and intergovernmental services, offering users the ability to apply for certificates, land-related documentation, allowances, and business permits, among other functions. The extended downtime is expected to affect individuals with pending applications, including those requiring document attestation for study or travel abroad, as well as businesses awaiting licences or official permits. Authorities continue to work on restoring full functionality to minimize disruption.