Cyber attack hits RBS and NatWest online customers on payday

Banking group says Distributed Denial of Service attack prompted flood of complaints from customers

The RBS banking group has revealed it suffered a cyber attack on its online services that left customers struggling to log on for nearly an hour - just as monthly pay cheques were arriving in accounts.

The group, which boasts 6.5m customers under the NatWest, RBS and Ulster brands, said it was the victim of a deliberate surge in internet traffic, called "Distributed Denial of Service". This floods a company's site with millions of requests, potentially bringing it to a standstill. The "distributed" version of a cyber attack involves thousands of computers under the control of one attacker.