Saturday, March 14, 2015

Cyber Criminals Hack Presidential Website

Yaounde, Cameroon—A  fabricated photo on the website of the presidency showing the head of state, President Paul Biya (currently on vacation in Europe) bowing before the caskets of some gallantry soldiers killed by militants of the terrorist group, Boko Haram has been attributed to cyber criminals.
Biya honouring soldiers from Europe?

On March 6, 2015, the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defense, Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo’o chaired a ceremony to pay homage to some brave soldiers of the Cameroon armed forces who were killed in the battle field by Boko Haram.
On behalf of the president of the republic, the Defense Minister decorated the soldiers posthumously with different titles, but on the website of the presidency days after, the fabricated photo appeared.
The photo created so much controversy with local newspapers, social media users and politicians chastising the head of state and the regime.
In a press release on March 11, the Minister of communication and government’s spokes person claimed the presidential website was under cyber attack.  He asserted that the photograph was posted by a hacker who maliciously penetrated the presidency website with the aim of tarnishing the embattled image of the head of state and the armed forces.
The Minister did not say who the malicious hacker is, but refused allegations that some personnel of the presidency were accomplices in the photo scandal.
“We are conscious of the gravity of such a picture whereas the head of state is in Europe. The photo was intentionally modified by a malicious hacker. It is impossible that it is done by someone from inside because everybody knows that president Biya is not around”, the Minister said in the release.
“Even if president Biya was out of the country, he had to flow back and pay homage to these soldiers who died defending the nation”, Hon Joseph Banadzem, SDF parliamentary group leader at the national assembly said.
By Ndi Eugene Ndi

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