Tuesday marked a week since the information system of the Mangaung Metro has been non-operational.
Dirk Kotze, DA councillor and information technology (IT) specialist, said it was alleged that the metro’s system had been hacked and was being held to ransom for an amount to be paid in Bitcoin.
Qondile Khedama, spokesperson for the Mangaung Metro, said after multiple tests on the network they could confirm that there had been a security breach, which caused critical systems to be compromised.
“This resulted in the public being unable to call the municipality’s landlines.”
He said a case had been opened with law enforcement agencies and that forensic investigations into the matter was underway.
Kotze explained that ransomware is malware designed to deny a user or organisation access to the files on their computers. He said this would also influence all money being paid into and from the metro’s account, and bookkeeping of these payments.
“When money is paid manually, it opens the door for corruption.”
He said the metro’s DA councillors were overwhelmed by complaints from residents unable to get assistance from officials when enquiring about their municipal accounts. Law firms have complained that they are unable to receive clearance certificates from the municipality.
Kotze said many residents did not receive their accounts.
The executive mayor, Gregory Nthatisi, has called on the Hawks to investigate the matter.
“The DA raised concerns in 2019, questioning the integrity of the information system after the system was down for two weeks and no contingency plans were in place for business to continue if the information system crashed,” Kotze said.
He said in July 2018, the Mangaung Metro experienced a system failure due to the lack of maintenance on several system servers.
The DA called on the audit committee chairperson to request an independent forensic audit after the system crash.
“Even now, there is no contingency plan. We only had notice of the problems on Tuesday,” Kotze said.
Khedama said the metro’s IT team, which have since joined forces with law enforcement, is working around the clock to resuscitate its infrastructure and have it be operational again.
