OTT and Mobile Money Tax has captured all the attention and took center stage in kafunda discussions. Trouble, right? Sort of. The real trouble happened the at one of MTN’s data centres. A raid that involved a bit of kidnapping and some flipped switches. The raid reportedly happened at Mutundwe based MTN Data Center. The Security men who executed the raid were allegedly officers of the Internal Security Organization (ISO).
The Kidnap at MTN Data Center
According to a letter circulating on all social media platforms, at 5:00pm, four men posing as ISO kidnapped Mr. Keefah Musasizi. This is according to a letter to UCC Executive Director from MTN. Mr. Keefah is a staff member of their contractor Huawei Uganda Limited. He has responsibility for physical access to MTN Data Center.
The ‘Kidnappers’ consequently took Mr. Keefah to the ISO offices at Nakasero and held him there until 9:00pm. However, the letter does not mention the condition and the exact details of the kidnap. The men took back Mr. Keefah to the MTN data center and forced him to provide access.
At the data Center, the kidnappers directed Mr. Keefah to disconnect four servers. Consequently, Mr. Keefah succumbed to his kidnappers orders.
However, all this went down with CCTV cameras fully on duty recording every detail of the intrusion.
MTN reported the incident verbally to the Honourable Minister of Security and the Director General Internal Security Organisation. Consequently, the trespassers exited the premises, releasing Mr. Keefah subsequently.
The Aftermath.
Owing to the above breach of security, MTN reported a case of illegal intrusion and disconnection of four information servers at the MTN Data Center.
Speaking to Chimp Reports, Mr. Keefah said ;
“The Security personnels entered the MTN offices where they searched servers and copied all the files they wanted.”
However, the nature and motive of the above officers has not yet been defined, but investigations are underway.
MTN reports that it had not received any search warrant, court order or a request for information that had not been attended to.
According to MTN, the incident poses a serious security risk to its Telecommunication Infrastructure and customer data. The big yellow company has not yet reconnected the four servers at the moment.
MTN claims that the servers that, disconnected on the orders of these officers allegedly working for ISO severely impacted the following services.
- Processing of all Call Data details and resolution of customer queries.
- Processing of Service information for our different products.
- Business financial reports processing
As a result, MTN is currently unable to offer some services such as processing of call records, Mobile money micro-lending and resolution of customer queries. MTN has had trouble with UCC for failing to resolve customer queries adequately. This breach may make the situation worse.
“We are yet to determine the extent of interruption to our network activities and the financial impact. It is also possible that some data may have been tampered with or illegally accessed and taken from the premises.” read part of the letter.
MTN requested UCC to help in securing police guards for their switching centers at Mutundwe Plot 451 Paul Wasswa Road, Rubaga Division, and Plot 77 Port Bell Road Mbuya, Nakawa.
UCC comments on the raid.
UCC ED, Mr. Mutabazi said UCC was not in any way involved in the raid.
“We didn’t sanction the operation; it was MTN who wrote to me about it,” he said. “….this was “mostly likely” about national security.” He added.
The cause of the raid on the UGX 25 Billion 24hr data and switching center in Mutundwe remains a matter of speculation.
