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Hackers target Namibia – The Namibian


THE Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) has confirmed a sharp increase in “brute-force” hacking attempts in Namibia.

As a precautionary measure, Cran, through its National Security and Cyber Incident Response Team (NSCIRT) issued an alert on Monday.

In a separate incident, Cran yesterday said a software glitch was experienced during a routine upgrade on the domain name server (DNS) of the .na domain.

This comes as individuals and companies battled to access the internet yesterday and especially banks notified their customers that their websites, internet banking and mobile apps were down.

Cran chief executive officer Emilia Nghikembua said the .na domain is currently administered by an independent registrar.

“The authority consulted the registrar and was advised that a software glitch was experienced during a routine upgrade on the DNS server of the .na domain. The glitch was identified at 08h30 yesterday.

“The registrar reported that the matter was resolved by 13h41 on 4 October. At this point, the failure affected the routing of data traffic only, no website with the domain .na failed, nor was any of the local telecommunications networks breached,” Nghikembua said.

However, given the volumes of data traffic affected by the glitch, it may take some time until all routing of data is back to normal.

“The authority will remain in contact with the registrar and provide further updates, if any,” Nghikembua said, while clarifying that the .na domain server incident and the ‘honeypot alert’ are not related.

She said Monday’s press release on brute-force hacking attacks was precautionary.

“This was a pre-emptive measure to stakeholders, to take precautionary actions by updating the firmware of their devices and/or install the latest antivirus/malware remover tools to scan and quarantine the infection,” she said.

A ‘honeypot’ is a network-attached system set up as a decoy to lure cyberattackers and detect, deflect and study hacking attempts to gain unauthorised access to information systems.

The function of a honeypot is to present itself on the internet as a potential target for attackers – usually a server or other high-value asset – and to gather information and notify defenders of any attempts to access the honeypot by unauthorised users.

Standard Bank was also experiencing website issues yesterday.

“Please note that access to the Standard Bank Namibia website is unavailable due to a technical fault. We will notify you once access to the website has been restored,” the bank said in a statement.

Bank Windhoek said internet access in Namibia was affecting its iBank and mobile platforms.

“We are collaborating with the relevant service providers to resolve the matter,” the bank said yesterday afternoon.

Bank Windhoek spokesperson Jacqueline Pack said: “The Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia will respond to the media regarding the service interruption that occurred today impacting the accessibility of several Namibian websites. For more information, contact [email protected]

“This outage did not impact Bank Windhoek systems, our client’s data or money. Since the service is restored, clients are once again able to transact on our iBank and mobile app platforms. We thank our service providers for their efforts in restoring access to our services.”

Audrin Mathe, the executive director of the information and communications technology (ICT) ministry, yesterday said the ministry is not aware of the matter and referred The Namibian to the Office of the Prime Minister, whom he said was in charge of government servers.

Mathe said the ministry would release a statement when ready.

I-Ben Nashandi, the executive director in the Office of the Prime Minister, said the office was not aware of the matter, but the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology would issue a statement on the issue. Paratus spokesperson Chrizandre Schoonbee yesterday said Paratus could not comment on the matter.

“We can’t deliver any comments since the issue is not on our end,” she said.

Executive director of urban and rural development Nghidinwa Daniel referred The Namibian to the information and communications ministry. MTC spokesperson Erasmus Nekundi declined to comment on the matter.

Presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari said the Office of the President does not have information on the issue yet.

NATIONAL ASSET

In 2014, then Telecom managing director Frans Ndoroma called for a change in the manner in which the country’s domain name registry is handled, proposing that a multi-stakeholder body be created to be the guarantor of the country code top level domain (ccTLD).

Ndoroma at the time said the Namibian ccTLD ought to be managed and administered in an effective, transparent and equitable manner, and in conformity with global internet policies.

“It is high time for Namibia to establish an institution to administer the country code top level domain (ccTLD),” Ndoroma said.

He said a domain name is a national asset of which the use should be managed in such a way so as to benefit the whole country.

He also said domain names are a key driver to the growth of a nation’s internet network.

“The existing arrangement for the management of Namibia’s ccTLD is flawed in a number of ways. Most notably, the registration process is controlled by individuals, and the current administration processes and procedures are not representative of all stakeholders and do not contribute in any way to the development of Namibia’s ICT community,” he said.





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