Technology
Hackers attack Johannesburg's systems, services down
Johannesburg, Oct 27
The city of Johannesburg has shut its website and billing systems after hackers hit the inner-systems of the municipality.
A group, which identified itself as the Shadow Kill Hackers, left a note on the Twitter page claiming to "have control of everything" in Johannesburg, ZDNet reported.
"All your servers and data have been hacked. We have dozens of back doors to your city. We have control of everything in your city. We also compromised all passwords and sensitive data, such as finance and personal population information," it said.
Another group of hackers is threatening to release Johannesburg customer information if it is not paid four Bitcoins by Monday. It's threatening to launch a 'distributed denial of service' (DDoS) attack.
Several South African banks were hit by cyber attacks and their services went down. Standard Bank and Absa were two of the five banks attacked by what appeared to be DDoS.
Initially, the attacks were reported as coming from the same group, but Shadow Kill Hackers said they were not involved in these unrelated attacks.
The incident is being investigated by security experts, who are striving to limit the impact.
City of Johannesburg spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said some customer service centres were now running and the remaining services would be back by the end of weekend.
Earlier in July, Johannesburg's power supply was hit by a virus that restricted customers' online buying of electricity.
A group, which identified itself as the Shadow Kill Hackers, left a note on the Twitter page claiming to "have control of everything" in Johannesburg, ZDNet reported.
"All your servers and data have been hacked. We have dozens of back doors to your city. We have control of everything in your city. We also compromised all passwords and sensitive data, such as finance and personal population information," it said.
Another group of hackers is threatening to release Johannesburg customer information if it is not paid four Bitcoins by Monday. It's threatening to launch a 'distributed denial of service' (DDoS) attack.
Several South African banks were hit by cyber attacks and their services went down. Standard Bank and Absa were two of the five banks attacked by what appeared to be DDoS.
Initially, the attacks were reported as coming from the same group, but Shadow Kill Hackers said they were not involved in these unrelated attacks.
The incident is being investigated by security experts, who are striving to limit the impact.
City of Johannesburg spokesman Nthatisi Modingoane said some customer service centres were now running and the remaining services would be back by the end of weekend.
Earlier in July, Johannesburg's power supply was hit by a virus that restricted customers' online buying of electricity.

1 hour ago
Amid controversy over Kerala's healthcare, CM Vijayan leaves for treatment in US

2 hours ago
Karnataka HC quashes sexual assault case against Malayalam filmmaker Ranjith

2 hours ago
'Sarzameen' trailer shows a perplexing tale of family, love & patriotism

2 hours ago
Varun Dhawan shares a glimpse from ‘Border 2’ shoot after a ban on Diljit Dosanjh revoked temporarily

2 hours ago
‘Chainsaw Man — The Movie: Reze Arc’ to release in India this October

2 hours ago
Karan Johar reveals how Uorfi Javed and Nikita Luther cracked The Traitors’ biggest question to win

2 hours ago
Priyanka Chopra gives a glimpse into her intense prep for ‘Heads of State’ action scenes

2 hours ago
Helly Shah calls her film transformation from baby bump to cabin crew 'not easy'

2 hours ago
Hansal Mehta questions the purpose of formulaic promotions: ‘Same actors, same podcasts’

2 hours ago
Elaborate arrangements made for Kanwar Yatra, Muharram in Prayagraj

2 hours ago
Mallikarjun Kharge unveils statue of former Andhra Pradesh CM Rosaiah

2 hours ago
SC rejects plea against NEET-UG 2025 answer key, results

2 hours ago
President Droupadi Murmu unveils Durand Cup 2025 trophy