THE Justice and Constitutional Development Department’s Information Technology systems have been interrupted owing to a security breach.
The system was affected by ransomware last Monday.
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Ransomware is often spread through phishing emails that contain malicious attachments, or through ‘drive-by downloading’.
Speaking on behalf of the department, Steve Mahlangu said a drive-by downloading occurs when a user unknowingly visits an infected website, and malware is downloaded and installed without the user’s knowledge.
‘This has led to all information systems being encrypted and unavailable to both internal employees as well as members of the public.
‘All electronic services provided by the department are affected, including issuing of letters of authority, bail services, email, and the departmental website.
‘We want to assure all affected parties that our IT teams are working tirelessly to restore services as soon as is practically possible.
‘Child maintenance payments for month-end have already been processed and will therefore not be impacted by the current system outage.
‘We activated our Business Continuity Plan and put contingency measures in place to ensure the IT system challenges do not affect court operations around the country.
‘Manual recording equipment will be used to ensure that court sittings continue as scheduled.
‘The Office of the Chief Master is currently using a manual process to provide bereaved families with the necessary documentation they need to bury their loved ones.
‘The department’s IT experts are working with state agencies to investigate and resolve the problem. So far no indication of data compromise has been detected.
‘We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause to the public,’ he said.
