(SenePlus) – According to an article from Jeune Afrique, Senegal is facing a worrying increase in cyberattacks targeting its major institutions, revealing worrying flaws in its digital security.
The Senegal Housing Bank (BHS) paid the price during the end-of-year holidays. According to JA, the establishment, of which the State holds 17.74% of the capital, had to suspend its online services from December 24 to 31, 2024. An internal document consulted by the magazine evokes “malicious attempts” having forced the bank to interrupt its digital services “as a security measure and to guarantee the security of customer data”.
The operator Sonatel (Orange) was not spared. According to the Senegalese newspaper Libération cited by Jeune Afrique, two individuals were arrested for intrusion into the company’s network. The damage is substantial: “96 million 954 thousand 646 CFA francs” between May 2023 and May 2024. An anonymous source within Sonatel specifies, however, that it would rather be a “diversion of calls” than a classic cyber attack.
The experts interviewed by Jeune Afrique are concerned about this increase in incidents. Gérard JF Dacosta, IT security engineer at IT4Life, anticipates a worsening of the situation: “With oil and gas starting to be exploited, we must expect this phenomenon to gain momentum and be even more sophisticated with the use of artificial intelligence.”
-The situation is sufficiently worrying for Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko to take it into his own hands. During his general policy statement on January 6, he recognized “extraordinary digital insecurity” in the country, even revealing that “just the day before yesterday, the Minister of Finance informed me that our system was still under attack “.
The diagnosis of the head of government, reported by Jeune Afrique, is clear: “We do not have control over most of the software that we use. Today, if certain countries advanced in this field wanted to attack the Senegal, it would be difficult for us to answer.” Faced with these vulnerabilities, Sonko assures that his government has an ambitious program to strengthen national cybersecurity.
Omar Wilane, network manager at Star Oil, points out “the lack of capacity for rapid and effective reaction to security incidents”, highlighting both the malfunctions in the protection devices and the increasing sophistication of the techniques used by the cybercriminals.
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