Somalia’s Immigration Authority Confirms a Data Breach in Its Electronic Visa System

Somalia’s immigration authority has confirmed a data breach in its electronic visa system, and it’s causing quite a stir. The Immigration and Citizenship Authority of Somalia (ICA) openly acknowledged that their e-visa platform was hit by hackers who managed to access personal information of people traveling to Somalia.

This confirmation comes after a warning from the US embassy over the weekend. The embassy alerted everyone that some unknown hackers had managed to break into the e-visa system, potentially exposing the sensitive data of at least 35,000 people, including some US citizens who had applied for visas online.

According to the embassy’s notice, the stolen information includes a lot of personal details, things like names, photos, birth dates and places, email addresses, marital statuses, and even home addresses. It’s a lot of private info that anyone wouldn’t want floating around out there.

Somalia’s Immigration Authority Confirms a Data Breach

Since then, Somalia’s immigration authority confirmed a data breach in system operations and immediately launched an investigation to figure out exactly what happened. They’ve put together a national-level team that includes local government agencies and international cybersecurity experts to dig into the breach. The goal is to find out the full extent of the attack, where the hackers came from, and what the overall impact is on the affected individuals.

The ICA has promised they’ll provide a detailed report once the investigation wraps up. That report will cover how the breach happened, what data was affected, and the steps they’re taking to fix things and prevent this kind of attack from happening again.

They also made it clear that everyone who might have been impacted will be contacted directly through official government channels. So if you applied for a Somali e-visa recently, keep an eye out for any official messages.

In a statement, the Immigration and Citizenship Authority of Somalia expressed how sorry they are about the incident. They emphasized that protecting personal data is a top priority and something they take very seriously. The ICA said they are improving their data protection practices by introducing stronger security measures, including multi-layer authentication, to make all their digital services safer going forward.

On a related note, Somalia has been stepping up its efforts to protect its national digital systems. The country recently approved a new cyber-crime bill aimed at defending against illegal use of computer systems and digital devices. The law also focuses on safeguarding confidentiality, security, public morality, the national economy, and critical infrastructure. Plus, it sets clear rules and penalties based on international and regional standards.

So while this data breach is concerning, Somalia’s immigration authority is taking steps to get to the bottom of it and strengthen their security for the future.

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