Why Is SASSA Being Threatened By Brazilian Hackers?

After the recent findings of students from Stellenbosch University about problems present in applications setup of Social Relief Of Distress SRD grant system and how easy it is to apply for the grants, a Brazil based hacking group N4aughtysec is now threatening SASSA that they will release the agency’s data. Both the students Veer Gosai and Joel Cedras uncovered serious flaws in the SRD grant system of SASSA.

The Brazil based hacker group who demanded $30 million from TransUnion and $30 million from Experian last year, is now threatening the organisation and government that they will release the data of SASSA within next 48 hours in case these government organisations do not meet their demands.

The hackers have said that in their written statement at 5:15 P.M. on Wednesday on October 30. They said

“We have been hard at work rolling out our promises. We have entered the systems of the Credit bureaus we successfully hacked and used the compromised data sets and backend systems to attack the South African Government and RSA organisations.

“We did warn TransUnion that failure to pay our ransom would result in ultimate destruction. We are deeply infiltrated into the governments and bank systems.”

“We are releasing all the data of Sassa in the next 48 hours.”

The threat was not only serious but also very disturbing as the hackers have asked for millions of dollars of ransom from SASSA. As a proof of what they have done and what further they can do, the hackers group shared the list of 65 account numbers from TymeBank and the ID numbers that were fraudulently linked with them. 

They claimed that they have used these account numbers and these ID numbers to register as SASSA  SRD grant beneficiaries. They have also described their doings and claimed that they have already bypassed the security of the TymeBank system. They have claimed that they have extracted the data from Experian and TransUnion and have gotten access to social security ID numbers from this data. 

They also claimed that they still have access to the systems and still can do more damage with it!

TransUnion In Response To Brazilian Hackers Threat!

After the threat TransUnion took several steps and responded by claiming that the data security is their top priority and they monitor their systems every now and then. They are very conscious about their systems and data privacy and they have not yet found any evidence of an authorised access to their system. 

Moreover, they have also claimed that they have not found any proof of confirmation that there was any inappropriate reach into their systems. They confirmed that no system interface took place between SASSA and TransUnion South Africa.

TymeBank In Response To Brazilian Hackers Group!

On the other hand, TymeBank CEO Karl Westvig has said that they have also not found any similarity between the data they have on their record and the data provided by the hackers. They said that they have reviewed all the information and have conducted detailed checks and cross checked the records. 

After that they have got to know that there are clear discrepancies and differences between both the datas. According to them,

“We can therefore confirm TymeBank has not been hacked and that the data has not been taken from our systems. Our initial investigations indicate that the data is likely to have been obtained from another party that our customers may have engaged with separately.”

TymeBank CEO also further explained that they are using several rules, regulations and systems to keep an eye on fraudulent activities and identify fraudulent accounts. Moreover, they also said that they have multiple preventive measures that are not only helpful in detecting fraud but also helpful in preventing potential threats from reaching the accounts of individuals. 

According to Westvig,

“We have world class processes and controls to mitigate the risks of data loss. We work closely with all industry bodies and government departments to mitigate fraud where possible.” 

Brazilian hackers after the findings of Stellenbosch students took advantage of the situation and threatened SASSA to expose their data. On the other hand, both TymeBank and TransUnion deny hacking of the data as they have found no proof of hacking. You can check the Brazilian hackers group at https://srd-sassa-gov.co.za/.

All we can say is, SASSA needs to reset their systems and should keep an eye on what is happening around and should implement strong security setups to safeguard the data of their beneficiaries and provide them a secure place.