Cape Town - Cyber-criminals attempted to hack the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) on August 12, Treasury Minister Enoch Godongwana has revealed, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) beat the security cluster in identifying the breach.
The FBI took it upon itself to notify oblivious law enforcement authorities that the bank was under cyberattack.
Godongwana made the revelation as he spoke at an SA Local Government Association event.
Delivering off-the-cuff closing remarks in Xhosa, Godongwana said: “Cybersecurity … on August 12, the SA Reserve Bank was hacked. They saw it themselves. Our own security cluster didn’t see it.
“The FBI in America phones the Hawks and says: ‘Your bank is being hacked’. Do you see how exposed we are in this nation, and yet we criticise you (municipalities) as if we’re better at national level?”
SARB spokesperson Ziyanda Mtshali confirmed that the bank had received information regarding “a possible breach in August” from “both State agencies and private cybersecurity providers”.
She said there was no impact on the bank’s operations.
SAPS spokesperson Athlenda Mathe referred queries to the Hawks.
Hawks head advocate General Godfrey Lebeya said he was on leave and had forwarded the query to spokesperson Brigadier Nomthandazo Mbambo, who said the SARB would be better positioned to indicate whether the matter was reported to the Hawks.
World Wide Worx founder and tech analyst Arthur Goldstuck said: “SA institutions have regularly demonstrated that they are unprepared for the global escalation in cybercrime in recent years.
“The fact that the SARB had to be alerted to an attack by a third party tells us they were not adequately monitored and protected by their own systems.”
The SARB hack attempt was yet another incident of the SA security cluster being upstaged by a foreign intelligence service in what is supposed to be SAPS, Hawks and other local law enforcement agencies’ stomping ground.
Citing Police Minister Bheki Cele’s response in Parliament, the Cape Argus recently reported that the police were caught unaware of an FBI investigation and interception of a Bonteheuwel mother who was in the act of selling her 4-year-old child to paedophiles.
US intelligence also one-upped its local counterparts in October when the US embassy issued a terrorism alert, warning its citizens of an imminent attack in Sandton, leading to diplomatic tensions between the two nations.
The State Security Agency and SAPS crime intelligence were widely chastised for allegedly failing to identify the threat.
Goldstuck said the Transnet ransomware attempt and the crashing of the Justice Department’s systems last year were the most dramatic, as they brought down two of the country’s most critical infrastructures.
He said: “A key element of cybersecurity is visibility of attacks and the ability to analyse these in order to further shore up defences.”
Godongwana also touched on the rolling power cuts.
“No amount of progressive macro-economic can work when you have no electricity. We have 14 years trying to fix Eskom, not to fix power to the grid for 14 years,” he said.
On the shortage of diesel at Eskom to mitigate load shedding, Godongwana said Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe informed him there was enough diesel in South Africa, but Eskom refuses to fork out cash.
He said Mantashe also told President Cyril Ramaphosa, who “frantically” called Godongwana to ask: “Brother, where is the diesel? Your people should also be there every day (in meetings with Eskom officials).”
Godongwana said: “I heard him (Ramaphosa) swear for the first time in isiXhosa, ‘uyayazi mos yikaka lanto yenzeka pha kula Eskom’.” This loosely translates to “you know what’s happening at Eskom is literally sh*t”.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za