The Daily Star, BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Central Bank thwarted a cyberattack on its email system on Monday, temporarily suspending some of its online services as a precautionary measure. The safety measure has not affected Banque du Liban’s online and electronic operations, and the bank is well equipped to deal with any unforeseen crises in the future, said BDL’s IT Chief Ali Nahle. “Our security system is constantly upgraded and we have mobilized our resources to ensure the smooth operation of BDL and its daily work and transactions with other banks and financial institutions,” the source said. Email services that were suspended are operating again. Monday’s attack on BDL was part of global cyberattack described as unprecedented in scale. It forced a major European automaker to halt some production lines, while hitting schools in China and hospitals in Indonesia on Saturday, though it appeared to die down a day after its launch. An official from Cybersecurity Administration China (CAC) told local media on Monday that while the ransomware was still spreading and had affected industry and government computer systems, the spread was slowing. In a blog post on Sunday, Microsoft President Brad Smith appeared to tacitly acknowledge what researchers had already widely concluded: the attack made use of a hacking tool built by the U.S. National Security Agency and leaked online.