Cyberwarfare: Kinshasa e-zine LeSoftonline hacked again by Cyuzuzo, Rwandan Hacker

The web portal of the Congolese e-zine LeSoftonline

Accessed on August 28, 2011 at 20:04 HRS EST

"Hacked by Cyuzuzo, Rwanda Hacker"

Screen copy by Alex Engwete

Above is what the portal of the daily LeSoftonline, a Congolese e-zine, looked like on Sunday, August 28, at 8 PM EST. LeSoftonline is an offshoot of Le Soft International created 20 years ago by MP Tryphon Kin Kiey Mulumba, chairman of the Parti pour l'Action (PA) aligned with the presidential majority cartel. MP Kin Kiey hails from the Bandundu province. This is the second hacking this month of LeSoftonline by the Rwandan hacker who goes by the nom-de-guerre Cyuzuzo. The first hacking by the same culprit happened on August 27 and lasted several hours before LeSoftonline could restore its normal settings.

The hacking of LeSoftonline, though the e-zine is a private outfit whose portal is hosted by a European server, should also be a wake-up call to the Congolese government whose investment in cybersecurity an in IT training is non-existent. This lack of vision and proactive action in cybersecurity glaringly displayed by the Congolese government is particularly alarming as sensitive banking and government data are now online. In fact, the system of the DRC Central Bank was hacked in late September-early October 2010, and by October 7 it was "up and running at [only] 60% of its capacity after being crippled by [the] cyberattack." Maybe it was the resourceful Cyzuzo who had also attacked the Central Bank.

Cyuzuzo, the nom-de-guerre chosen by the Rwandan hacker, is a common Rwandan patronym. But it also stems from the verb "kuzuza" (to fill). Maybe the hacker took that moniker for the way his hacking is done by filling the articles' title banners of LeSoftonline