Mozambique: Central Bank Governor Blames Cyber-Attack for Banking Crisis

Bank of Mozambique governor Rogério Zandamela
21 November 2018

Cape Town — The governor of the Mozambican central bank, Rogério Zandamela, has told parliament that a Portuguese software company, Bizfirst, carried out "cyber-attacks" on the country's banking system, Verdade reports.

ATMs and card machines in Mozambique have been out of action since Friday November 16, 2018.

The network operated by Simo (Mozambique Interbanking Company) is down because BizFirst has cut Mozambique off.

Most Mozambican banks are partners in Simo, at the insistence of the Bank of Mozambique, which holds a 51% stake in Simo.

Online publication Club of Mozambique reports that Gertrudes Tovela, chair of Simo's board of directors and a director of the Bank of Mozambique, said that society was being subjected to "blackmail", demanding that certain conditions are met, or else the service would be cut off.

Club of Mzambique says that Bizfirst has denied that, describing the accusation as serious and announcing that it has taken steps to have those concerned charged with the crimes of slander, defamation and insult to a legal person.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.