Minister blames media for e-toll cyber attacks

 ·24 Jul 2014
Sanral Security

Minister of Transport Dipuo Peters has said that “some media houses” were responsible for “cyber attacks” on the e-toll website, BDlive reported on Wednesday (23 July, 2014).

According to the report, the Minister was answering a parliamentary question put to her by Democratic Alliance MP Chris Hunsinger in a written reply.

Teething problems on the E-toll website, including billing problems, were partly due to the slowness of the website, Peters was quoted as saying.

She blamed the website’s slowness on communications links and cyber attacks, adding that “some media houses” were responsible for the cyber attacks.

“It is unfortunate that some of the cyber attacks were deliberately perpetrated by unknown persons and some media houses,” Peters was quoted as saying.

“These incidents have been reported to the law enforcement authorities,” she said.

In March 2014 two more flaws were reported, both of which let attackers see the outstanding balances of any vehicle.

One of the first E-toll website security concerns to make headlines was the ability to check the outstanding grace-period E-toll bill for any vehicle, provided you had the license plate number.

When US President Barack Obama visited South Africa to pay tribute to our former President Nelson Madela, the feature was used to see what Obama’s outstanding E-toll bill was.

More on e-tolls

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No e-toll prosecutions: minister

E-toll panel findings due in November

Motorists warned to pay for e-tolls despite hiccups

E-tolls should be put to a national vote: DA

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