NatWest website crashes twice in a week Royal Bank of Scotland blamed a cyber-attack after customers were blocked from accessing online accounts for the second time in a week. Online customers with NatWest and RBS found it impossible to gain access to their accounts on Friday, and in a statement the bank said its systems had been deliberately targeted. IN Savings "Due to a surge in internet traffic deliberately directed at the NatWest website, customers experienced difficulties accessing some of our customer web sites today," said a spokesperson for RBS. This deliberate surge of traffic is commonly known as a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack. We have taken the appropriate action to restore the affected websites. The bank said a DDoS attack typically involves a sudden rush of visitors to the website, sending millions of requests for access all at the same time and causing it to crash. The bank apologised and insisted the latest problem was unrelated to a systems meltdown on what has been dubbed "Cyber Monday," the busiest online shopping day before Christmas. The technical problems then lasted for three hours and resulted in millions of people being denied access to cash and being left unable to pay payments. RBS, which is 81 per cent owned by the government, promised to compensate those customers left "out of pocket" after Monday's technical glitch. Ross McEwan, chief executive, said he would be outlining plans in the new year "for making RBS the bank that our customers and the UK need it to be." Angry customers turned to social media to vent their frustrations at being unable to withdraw cash, pay for goods or use telephone and online banking services. One suggested on Twitter that RBS stood for "Random Banking Services" as others aired their anger at missing out on bargains or not being able to pay for dinners. RBS said there was no risk to customers at any point on Friday, and added that its systems were now operating normally.