Mozambique: Hackers demand ransom – AIM report

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Mozambique: Hackers demand ransom – AIM report

4:57 CAT | 23 Feb 2022

FILE PHOTO - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: DW]

Unknown hackers, calling themselves the “Yemen Cyber Army”, who on Sunday cyber-attacked several web pages from various Mozambican government institutions, including the Defence Ministry, are demanding an unspecified amount of ransom or they will leak the classified data, according to a report by the independent television station STV.

However, the National Institute of Electric Government (INAGE) has played down the threats and said that the safety of web pages is top priority for the time being. On Monday, INAGE assured a press conference that every hacked web site was again online and every piece of information fully recovered, without paying any money.

As a matter of fact, the web pages are now online, but the cache of the Defence Ministry’s web page has a message issued by the hackers, where they demand a ransom (albeit a surprisingly small one), so that they do not leak out classified data.

“Hey, we are back. We warned the government that it was completely infiltrated, including 34 of its ministries. If this amount (20,000 US dollars) is not transferred in Bitcoin, classified data will leak onto the internet, including from the Defence Ministry as well as information from officials and the emails they exchanged. They have 24 hours to do it,” reads the piece left by hackers.

INAGE General Director, Herminio Jasse, played down the threat, saying “Our priority now is working gradually and the work might take one week or more. Our working teams are working. I cannot tell you what type of work is underway, because some issues are confidential, but there is work to boost the levels of security”.

Read: Mozambican government admits renewed hacking attempts on official portals yesterday – Lusa

Although INAGE on Monday claimed to have regained control of the web pages, on Tuesday some were not yet available. But Jasse claimed that the Tuesday problems were not a cyberattack and resulted from the need to strengthen and boost the mechanism for cyber safety.

It is not yet clear whether the cyber-attack has any connection with the islamist terrorists operating in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

Source: AIM