Africa-Press – Malawi. People who have hacked the Passport Issuing System at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services are demanding about K2 billion to surrender the system, Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma has disclosed.
Addressing journalists in Lilongwe Tuesday, Zikhale Ng’oma insisted that the government would not pay the ransom as it is already working on recovering the system.
“They are demanding about K2 billion to give us back the system but government will not bow down to the demand. We are working tirelessly to recover the system and Malawians should be assured that, very soon, the system shall be recovered and issuance of passports will commence soon,” he said.
Zikhale Ng’oma added that the government is investigating people who are behind the hacking of the system, assuring Malawians that the investigations would soon yield results.
The Homeland Security Minister added that what has happened is not “unusual” as it happens everywhere, including in financial institutions such as banks.
“People hack bank systems. What has happened also happened in other countries. It’s not new. Malawians should be patient. We will recover the system,” Zikhale Ng’oma said.
KALUMO— Let us fight the enemyDepartment of Immigration and Citizenship Services Director General Brigadier General Charles Kalumo (retired) said they have recovered 90 percent of the system.
He, however, said even though this is the case, the department needs to recover the whole system in order to recommence the issuance of passports. “Let us, as Malawians, team up to fight the enemy. Our system has been attacked and we need to come together to fight this. We need to join hands to recover the whole system,” Kalumo said.
He added that since the hackers took control of the system, they do not call to demand the ransom but, instead, just display a message on the computer screen which Immigration officials see when they open computers.
“The hackers communicate to us through our computers; they just drop a message on the computer screen stating what they want,” Kalumo said. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Defenders Coalition has, through chairperson Gift Trapence, demanded swift action to address the problem.
Gift Trapence“The problem at Immigration has crippled Malawians as they are failing to get their passports, thereby affecting their right to travel, do business and even to seek medical attention outside. We need answers; we need solutions,” Trapence said.
Last week, President Lazarus Chakwera disclosed in Parliament that some digital mercenaries had infiltrated Malawi’s passport printing system and that they were demanding an unspecified ransom payout.
Chakwera, who said the development had crippled the passport issuance system, said his government would not be drawn to bow to the cyber-attack by paying the ransom.
In a related development, Techno Brain has dismissed “recent press articles which have falsely linked us to the current shutdown of the passport issuance system” in the country. In a statement, the firm says it has nothing to do with what has happened in the country.
“Techno Brain has no connection to the cyberattack on the system and, on the contrary, swiftly responded to an urgent request for assistance from the Government of Malawi to resolve the issue in January 2024. We have deep empathy for the citizens of Malawi and, in this spirit, we conducted an assessment of the situation and submitted practical suggestions to the Government of Malawi on the way forward. We have not heard back from the Government of Malawi on these suggestions to date.
“Techno Brain transferred and completely handed over the operations and administration of the Malawi ePassport System to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services (Dics) in June 2023. This was done in accordance with a settlement reached by Techno Brain and the Government of Malawi following the premature termination of Techno Brain’s ePassport contract in October 2022,” Techno Brain says, adding that the handover was “extensive” and in agreement with the government.
It cites the training of Dics officers, handover of all credentials and security protocols and all customised source codes. “The parties’ intention was that Dics would manage the Malawi ePassport System on their own. Since the handover, the Malawi ePassport System has been maintained and administered exclusively by the Dics.
“Since June 2023, the Dics has reached out to Techno Brain to request technical assistance with the ePassport system. Each time, Techno Brain has recommended that the Dics engage and work with the Original Equipment Manufacturer. However, in the spirit of cooperation, Techno Brain has agreed on three occasions, at the request of the Government of Malawi and pursuant to discrete arrangements separate from the terminated ePassport contract, to provide its technical services to the Dics. We hope that the Government of Malawi can resolve these issues quickly,” the Techno Brain statement reads.
This is happening when Information, Communication and Technology Association of Malawi (Ictam) has written the Department of Immigration, saying it is willing to offer technical expertise that will culminate in the recovery of the passport printing system.
Clarence JamaIctam President Clarence Gama said the association is ready to offer expertise on the issue.
“Most of us in the ICT sector have faced such challenges before. When hackers rock you out of a system in a process called ransomware, the only way to recover the system is to pay the ransom or recover from your backups. If we are not paying the ransom, then let us hope that we have the disaster recovery backup.
“However, the issue could be how long that can take,” Gama said.
He said the third option on the issue is for the department to negotiate with the hackers. He, however, said this is unlikely to yield the desired results.
“If this is a cyberattack, we have cybersecurity experts who can assess the nature of the attack. Is it a ransomware and what are they [hackers] looking for? If Immigration has backup, we could find skills from our membership that can help them with restoration. What we have written them is that if there is [a] need for technical support, we have a broad membership who may be able to help,” he said.
The Ictam boss also urged public entities to always seek support from local experts whenever they face challenges in their operations. Over a month ago, the department started experiencing network problems, prompting it to halt the provision of some of its services.
The department later issued a statement that it had suspended operations because it wanted to work on maintenance of the system. But, recently, The Daily Times revealed that the department’s system had been hacked and, since then, service seekers have not been accessing passport-related services in the country.
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