Government was forced to shut down its entire information technology (IT) platform yesterday after ransomware found its way through several vulnerable holes in the system.
Ransomware is malware that employs encryption to hold a victim’s information at ransom. A user or organisation’s critical data is encrypted so that they cannot access files, databases, or applications.
A ransom is then demanded to provide access. Ransomware is often designed to spread across a network and target database and file servers and can thus quickly paralyse an entire organisation.
The ransomware that attacked yesterday forced the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology to take its overall Internet service offline so the issues could be identified.
In an interview with the Weekend Nation even as a special team was still investigating the matter yesterday, Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Davidson Ishmael said that based on preliminary findings, the system was not a hack orchestrated by an outside or international source attempting to enter the system. (BA)
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