South Africa’s Information Regulator has launched an independent investigation into the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC) after a breach in its systems.
CIPC, as part of the Department of Trade, Industry, and Competition, handles registration relating to companies, co-operatives, and intellectual property.
The investigation was announced in a media briefing, where the regulator stated that it had received reports that the perpetrators of the hacking were still in the commission’s IT environment and that the systems were still compromised.
Additionally, the regulator said it will be finding out whether CIPC’s business model facilitates the trading of personal information in its possession. This relates to CIPC’s organizational and technical safeguards for personal information.
On February 29, the agency informed the public of an “attempted” security breach and that the personal information of clients and employees had been compromised. The compromised information includes the names and addresses of the registered clients.
While CIPC stated that the extent of the exposure is being investigated and will be communicated soon, a group took responsibility for the hack, telling My Broadband that the CIPC system has been vulnerable for a long time, claiming that they have had access to the system since 2021.
The attackers claim to have downloaded all of Sword South Africa’s source code for the systems they exploited, and used an exploit in a system created for the CIPC.
Now, the group is asking for $100,000 to delete everything, maintaining that they still have access despite all of CIPC’s efforts
