Sports

BNSC loses vital information to hackers

Calistus Kolantsho | Monday September 9, 2024 09:35

The Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) lost vital information and has been unable to pay suppliers after the secretariat's network system at its headquarters in Gaborone was hacked recently.
 
The Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) lost vital information and has been unable to pay suppliers after the secretariat's network system at its headquarters in Gaborone was hacked recently.

There are fears hackers could be targeting financial pledges for the Paris Olympic Games team after a plea went out for donations. The secretariat computers have been offline since Monday and staff laptops were taken away. According to information reaching MmegiSport, the hack has affected all departments including the finance department. 'Some members of the staff have lost some information and documents are missing. It is not clear what the hackers are targeting,' a source said. 'There is an outside company that has been engaged to assist the BNSC Information and Technology (IT) department with putting things in order.

However, it seems like the hacker is still fighting back. The Commission has not been able to pay suppliers because of this situation. Employees are not allowed to log into the BNSC system,' the source said. The source added it means that when the situation normalises, some employees will have to start afresh as there is also fear that sensitive information might have been leaked. It has been revealed that there have been signs in the past few weeks where emails and the entire system jammed. “It is unfortunate that cybercrime is not taken seriously in this country. It has been three days since the Commission has been under attack. Maybe the hackers were attracted to the system by the Paris 2024 Olympic Games Team Botswana pledges that are linked to the BNSC website. Probably they thought they would access those pledges. It remains unclear as to when the issue will be resolved. It is a wait-and-see game,” the source added.

Again, it is thought that since the BNSC has been bidding to host international games, maybe the hackers wanted access to the documents. “When the attack happened, everybody was ordered to switch off their computers. The secretariat staff has been instructed not to log into the system,” the source said. Contacted for comment, BNSC Communications Manager Anderson Nlisana said he was not in a position to comment on the matter and referred MmegiSport to the BNSC executive management. There was no response from the BNSC management at press time.