The City of Johannesburg says it hopes to have all its online services up and running by Saturday and Sunday after hackers sent threatening messages to the Metro.
The City shut down several of its online systems including, its website, e-services and billing system early Friday morning as a precautionary measure after some staffers received messages that they had been hacked and demand was made for two bitcoins.
The Shadow Kill Hackers had earlier claimed to the SABC News desk that they were trying to point out vulnerabilities in computer systems and would identify these out in exchange for bitcoins. The City’s spokesperson, Nthatisi Modingoane says IT and forensic experts are looking into the matter.
Meanwhile, Interpol ambassador, Andy Mashaile, says the cyber attack on the City of Johannesburg should not be taken lightly.
Mashaile says government is vulnerable, “It is very serious the hackers, the black hack hackers, the malicious hackers target government institutions. Let me tell you why they would target a City like Johannesburg, they look at the legacy infrastructure, the infrastructure that you had for so many years, hackers would go and study what is the defence capabilities of the institution when they attack.”
