Johannesburg says it’s back online after cyberattack and contractual dispute

The City of Johannesburg says that its online systems have been restored after being hit by a cyber-attack and contractual disputes.

In a statement on Thursday (7 November), the city that following an attack by malicious actors, it had ‘a few challenges’ regarding the distribution of statements on 5 November.

“This was due to a contractual dispute between the city and its Internet Service Provider (ISP), Dimension Data, which led to the suspension of all its network-dependent applications,” it said.

“It must be noted however, that this dispute with the service provider had nothing to do with the recent cyber-attack on the city’s network.”

The city said it has now reached a settlement with the ISP and all services have been restored, except the city’s call centre, which will take slightly longer due to the system upgrading process.

“We expect these services to be up and running again by the end of the week,” it said.

“Customers will also be able to receive their monthly statements via email and other conventional methods of their choice.

“The city would like to apologise to all our customers and all who have been affected by this unfortunate incident.

“In the meantime, we urge our customers to continue paying their bills via alternative means such as EFT; EasyPay outlets (Pick ‘n Pay and Checkers) or the Post Office.”

Read: Johannesburg working to restore systems after hackers demand R500,000 bitcoin ransom