Uganda: No, Uganda's Exams Board Hasn't 'Lost' Students' Crucial Results to Hackers - Tweet Fake

10 February 2023
Africa Check (Johannesburg)
By Grace Gichuhi

IN SHORT: The Twitter post could have students breaking out in a sweat. But the Uganda National Examinations Board didn't announce that its systems had been hacked. Mercifully, the tweet is fake.

Has the agency that runs national exams in Uganda lost students' much-awaited results to hackers?

That's the claim in what seems to be a tweet by the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), circulating on Facebook in February 2023.

It reads: "We were recently hacked and lost the 2022 UCE results. We are doing our best to retrieve them back but if it fails we shall be forced to use the mock results of the students. We apologize for any inconveniences."

The UCE is the Uganda Certificate of Education, the country's secondary school qualification. Exams for the certificate were held from 14 October to 18 November 2022.

UCE exam paper marking started in December, but the results are yet to be announced.

The screenshot has been posted here, here, here, here, here, here and here. But did the exams board really tweet this alarming message?

'#UCE2022 results in safe custody'

One sign that the tweet is fake is that it comes from the Twitter handle @UNEB _UG. Note the space before the underscore. Uneb's official Twitter account has the handle @UNEB_UG, with no space before the underscore.

On 4 February, Uneb posted the screenshot on Twitter, stamped "FAKE."

"Please disregard news making rounds on social media, indicating that the UNEB 'system' was recently hacked into, and that the 2022 UCE results were 'lost'. The information is fake and baseless," the tweet reads.

. @Blessedjkm1 Please disregard news making rounds on social media, indicating that the UNEB 'system" was recently hacked into, and that the 2022 UCE results were 'lost". The information is fake and baseless.

1/2 pic.twitter.com/kQ7TY6oTVb

-- Uganda National Examinations Board (@UNEB_UG) February 4, 2023

It continues: "We would like to assure the public that the #UCE2022 results are in safe custody, and will be released at the appropriate time."

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