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COJ security case transferred to Hawks

The Hawks investigate the City of Johannesburg's criminal case, after its online system was allegedly breached.

Marin'e Jacobs
By Marin'e Jacobs
Johannesburg, 05 Sept 2013
The City of Johannesburg's online services system has been down since a security flaw was revealed on 20 August.
The City of Johannesburg's online services system has been down since a security flaw was revealed on 20 August.

The criminal case opened by the City of Johannesburg (COJ), after its online system was allegedly breached, has been moved to the Hawks.

Hawks spokesperson Paul Ramaloko has confirmed it received the case docket on Tuesday. "We are looking into the content and complaint of the case, and will be able to comment more after we've looked into it."

This comes after a Johannesburg resident revealed on 20 August that the city's online services system, which allows residents to view their account statements online, contains a flaw that also allows residents' names, addresses, account numbers, PIN codes and financial details to be available to anyone with an Internet connection. The flaw was revealed by Bid or Buy CTO Gerd Naschenweng, who says he immediately took steps to notify the COJ.

Shortly afterwards, the COJ took down the system to fix the bug. At the time, COJ director for applications, Richard Nene, said it was a good thing that the security flaw was highlighted to allow the city to bring in additional security parameters to secure residents' personal information.

However, on 26 August, the city announced it had opened a criminal case at the Hillbrow police station, after a thorough forensic investigation by the city and its IT partner.

"The city believes that offences have been committed under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act relating to unauthorised access or access without permission, as well as assisting others to gain access," said city spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane. "The City of Johannesburg has an obligation to protect its citizens and will let the law take its course."

Naschenweng says he was contacted by the investigating officer yesterday to be informed that the case has been moved to the Hawks. He noted, however, that he has not been criminally charged. "We haven't received the information in any written form. So I think if I get charged or if the Hawks decide to disclose the nature of the complaint, we will know more. But right now, we have got no idea," he says.

Although no-one has officially been named as a suspect or accused in the case, Naschenweng last week appointed a legal team as a precautionary measure. "[I appointed lawyers] to protect my rights. Although I have not been named by the COJ or media, this has been implied in various ways since I attempted to notify COJ about the security issues and data-leaks on their Web site," says Naschenweng.

The city could not be reached for comment this morning.

Account 'cleaning'

The COJ online system is still down, with no indication of when it will be operational again.

Meanwhile, the city announced in a statement this morning that it will assist residents to "spring-clean their municipal accounts" at an open day this Saturday. According to the statement, the open day is held to help the city reach its goal of having 90% of its account queries resolved on the spot.

"On the day, expert agents from City Power, Johannesburg Water, Rates and Taxes, Finance and more will be on hand to sort out all account-related queries, with the hope of immediate resolution," says the city.

The city says previous open days have delivered positive results, and the first-hand experience of speaking directly to aggrieved customers has given the city valuable insight into customer expectations.

The open day will be held from 09:00 at the customer service centres in Eldorado Park, Lenasia and Ennerdale.

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