MTN Uganda has come out to clarify on a security breach by Pegasus Technologies Ltd, an aggregator, in which it is feared billions of customers’ money was stolen.
The telecom’s Chief Executive Officer Wim Vanhelleputte in a statement further states that the breach impacted Bank2 Wallet transfers but did not affect any customer mobile money balances.
He adds that the company moved to suspend some services as a precautionary safety measure.
“MTN Uganda provides select mobile money services aggregated or integrated through third parties. On 3 October 2020, an aggregator, Pegasus Technologies Ltd experienced a security breach that impacted Bank2 Wallet transfers. Although the incident did not affect any customer money mobile balances, a limited number of other services aggregated through the third-party provider were suspended as a precautionary safety measure,” says Vanhelleputte in a statement.
He adds: “The core MTN Mobile Money services namely cash deposits, withdrawals, Person to Person (P2P) transactions and MoMo payments were never affected nor compromised at any stage.”
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Vanhelleputte reveals that the Police has commenced investigations to find the cause of the incident.
He says: “Investigations led by the Uganda Police Force are ongoing to identify the root cause of the incident. We are confident the Uganda Police Force will conclude their investigations timeously and take appropriate action against the culprits. The MTN mobile money platform complies with the highest international ICT security standards and is subjected to regular assessments and reviews by internal and external assurance providers,” adding,
“We apologize to all our customers for any inconveniences and reassure the public that MTN Mobile money services are safe, convenient, and transparent.”
