State-owned arms supplier Armscor has said a breach of its website has not resulted in classified or sensitive information being leaked.
Hacktivists claiming links to the Anonymous group breached Armscor’s website this week, dumping hundreds of records linked to the company’s settlement and invoicing system on the dark Web.
The hacktivists said they used a “simple SQL injection” to leak Armscor ordering and payment data linked to companies ranging from Airbus, Vodacom, Microsoft, Thales Group and Denel.
Armscor, which describes itself as the acquisition agency for the department of defence, said late on Tuesday that it is aware of the data breach of its website.
“A team of cyber experts has been convened to conduct a forensic analysis to determine the full extent of this incident. This is to ensure that tighter measures and interventions are in place to prevent similar attempts from recurring,” said Armscor in a statement.
“While the investigation is being undertaken, Armscor can confirm at this stage that information accessed does not contain sensitive and classified content,” the company added.
Armscor’s GM for marketing and business development, Lulu Mzili, further said that “we are aware of the increase in cyber threats globally; hence IT infrastructure renewal is one of Armscor’s strategic focus areas”.
In the statement, Armscor further attempted to assure its stakeholders that the “matter is receiving undivided attention”.
The Armscor hack comes after Anonymous hacktivists, under the Operation Africa or “#OpAfrica” banner, announced a plan earlier this year to target “corrupt” African governments.
Armscor has come under the spotlight recently for issues such as a controversial tender for the lease of an intercontinental VIP aircraft for government.
Meanwhile, a seemingly separate group of hacktivists dubbed Anonymous Africa also targeted websites belonging to the SABC and the controversial Gupta family last month.
In a tweet last week, Anonymous Africa distanced itself from the #OpAfrica hackers.