Trespassers break into MTN data centre, disconnect four servers
According to the letter dated July 3, a copy of which we have obtained, the incident happened on Monday July 2, 2018. COURTESY PHOTO
What you need to know:
- MTN went on to explain in the letter that this incident was verbally reported to the minister of security, the chief of military intelligence, and Director General Internal Security whose possible intervention led to the exit of trespassers and subsequent release of their contract staff.
Leading telecom operator, MTN Uganda, has complained to government over what it termed as trespass into its data center and disconnection of its servers at Mutundwe plot 51 Wasswa Road, Kampala.
In the letter sent to Internal Security Organisation (ISO) dated July 3, a copy of which we have obtained, MTN said security men alleging to be from ISO came and accessed their servers and disconnected four of them on Monday July 2, 2018.
This was after the men kidnapped a one Moses Keefah Musasizi, a manager data facilities at Huawei Uganda who is also responsible for physical access to the MTN IT Data Centre.
MTN in the letter explained that Mr Musasizi was kidnapped at 5:00 pm and subsequently taken to the ISO headquarters at Nakasero and held there until 9:00 pm when he was taken to their Data Centre at Mutundwe and forced to provide accesses to the above kidnappers who directed him to disconnect four servers in their Data Centre.
“We are yet to determine the extent of interruption to our network activities and the financial impact. It is also possible that some data have been tempered with or illegally accessed and taken from the premise,” the letter reads in part.
“The intrusion into the data was properly captured by our closed circuit television (CCTV cameras),” MTN added in the letter.
In the letter, MTN Uganda owing to the above breach of security reported to police a case of illegal intrusion into the Data Centre and the disconnection of four information servers.
“We await police investigation to determine the nature and motive of the above officers. It is important we had not received search warrant, court order or a request for information that not been attended to, warranting the above action,” it wrote in the letter.
MTN went on to explain in the letter that this incident was verbally reported to the minister of security, the chief of military intelligence, and Director General Internal Security whose possible intervention led to the exit of trespassers and subsequent release of their contract staff.
“This incident poses a serious security risk to telecommunication infrastructure and customer data which are protected under the Uganda Communication Act 2013. Our servers have been off since yesterday and are yet to be reconnected. As a result, MTN is currently unable to offer some services such as processing of call data records, resolution of customer queries and Mobile Money Micro-lending,” it stated in the letter which is copied to minister of ICT and National Guidance, Minister of Security, Minister of Internal Affairs, Inspector General of Police, and the head of Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence.
