Cyber Incident Victim: Broadband Systems Corporation
Date:
Feb 2016
Location:
Rwanda
Summary
Anonymous hacktivists targeted multiple African nations as part of a campaign against corruption, initially breaching a Rwandan telecommunications company. The attackers compromised backend systems, exposing sensitive internal data including employee details, hashed passwords, and corporate emails. Concurrently, Uganda's Ministry of Finance was infiltrated, resulting in the theft of personal information belonging to hundreds of government employees. The hackers, operating under #OpAfrica and claiming affiliations with groups like LulzSec, indicated intentions to expand attacks to other listed countries following these initial breaches.
| CIA Posture | Motives | Tactics, Techniques & Procedures |
|---|---|---|
| Available to members | 2 motives | 1 technique |
| Threat Actors | Type | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 2 actors | Available to members | Available to members |
Description
On February 6, 2016, hacktivists associated with the Anonymous collective launched cyberattacks against African nations under the #OpAfrica campaign, initially targeting Rwanda and Uganda. The World Hacker Team, operating under Anonymous, breached the backend systems of Broadband Systems Corporation (bsc.rw) in Rwanda. This intrusion compromised email accounts, ticketing systems, and databases, resulting in the theft of sensitive internal data. Leaked information included employee details, hashed passwords, and confidential corporate emails. The attackers publicly released this data, exposing the organization's operational communications and credential security vulnerabilities. No specific detection methods or containment efforts by the corporation were disclosed in available records.
Concurrently, a hacker using the alias Hanom1960 infiltrated Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, exfiltrating personal data belonging to 220 government employees. The stolen records contained names, email addresses, and hashed passwords. Hanom1960 claimed affiliation with LulzSec but participated in Anonymous’ social justice operations. The attacks formed part of a coordinated effort against eight African nations cited in Anonymous’ prior announcement, citing corruption as the motivation. Following the Rwanda and Uganda breaches, the hackers declared intentions to expand #OpAfrica to South Africa’s government systems. No technical specifics regarding attack vectors, victim remediation steps, or confirmed downstream impacts of the data leaks were documented in the source material.