Government of Mozambique's cyber security website attacked

Learn how a daring cyber attack compromised the Mozambique government's CSIRT website.

The Incident

On the night of July 24th, a hacker (or a group of hackers) managed to invade and deface the website csirt.gov.mz, which belongs to Mozambican Government CSIRT, the acronym for the Mozambican Government’s cyber security incident response team. The group then claimed responsibility for the attack on online forums, publishing details about the invasion.

Duration of Attack and Measures Taken

The site remained taken for approximately 10 hours, from 10 pm on Thursday night, until late Friday morning, before being taken offline by Mozambican authorities. At the time of writing this article, the site remains under maintenance.

What is a CSIRT?

A CSIRT is a specialized team that deals with cybersecurity incidents. These teams are responsible for identifying, managing and responding to attacks and other threats to the security of information systems. When an incident occurs, CSIRT works to mitigate the damage, restore affected systems, and investigate the source of the attack.

The Importance of a Government CSIRT

A government CSIRT, like the one in Mozambique, plays a critical role in protecting government systems and data. It acts to ensure that essential government services and confidential information are protected from cyberattacks. This includes defending against attackers seeking to compromise the integrity, confidentiality and availability of government systems.