Govt ‘megaphone’ channel GCIC account hijacked by hackers
Duncan Abigaba is the deputy head of Government Citizen Interaction Centre (GCIC).
KAMPALA — The Uganda Government Citizens Interaction Centre (GCIC) Twitter account has been hacked —with hijackers remaining in control of the platform upto now.
The latest incident saw the hackers put out a tweet from the Government Citizens Interaction Centre Twitter handle – that has over 90000 followers – claiming that Uganda has officially launched a fundraising drive to support Ukrainian army to defend their nation against Russia.
“Dear readers,
we together with the Ukrainian TV channel “1+1″ announced an aid fund to support the Ukrainian army against invaders!
All money sent to the Ukrainian army relief fund will be given directly to the army. Site: https://t.co/0GNgeEpk7d ”
No sooner had the hack been noticed than the GCIC management sprung into action, writing to Twitter about the incident and asking users to ignore the tweet.
The first official information about the breach was sent out through a statement— notifying the public that the account had been compromised.
GCIC which was previously under the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance was last year moved to State House.
Established as primary contact Center for citizens to enhance the monitoring of service delivery and provide a channel for feedback, the platform had previously turned into a government propaganda Maga phone channel—singing praises to President Museveni and his closest family members including his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Previous cyber attacks against government of Uganda websites including Uganda Police have been attributed to the well-known international hacking collective Anonymous.
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