ITC Department managing a cyber incident targeting the government network - Sayed-Khaiyum

Minister for Communications and Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum confirms the Fijian Government’s ITC Department is managing a cyber incident targeting the government network.

Sayed-Khaiyum who is currently in quarantine in Nadi says a preliminary forensic investigation has revealed that the source of the incident is likely a government server housed separately from the ITC Department.

He says they expect the ongoing forensic investigation to reveal more about the extent of incident in the coming days. The Government’s cyber experts are working closely with its cybersecurity vendors to identify and contain the incident and ensure minimal disruptions to government services. As a measure of extreme precaution, advice has been disseminated across Government to protect network integrity resulting in a temporary disruption to the government network, including GovNet.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the network is being gradually brought back online in accordance with the ITC Department’s internationally-recognised security protocols.

The Communications Minister also says Government services may take several days to be fully and securely restored. He says cyber-based threats are growing in scale and complexity globally.

Sayed-Khaiyum says countries, such as the United Kingdom, USA, Australia, and Singapore, as well as multinational corporations, have been the target of a rising number of these increasingly sophisticated attacks. He says Fiji has developed its cyber security infrastructure in line with international best practices and that has allowed us to respond effectively to past cybersecurity incidents and quickly manage the impact of this incident.

Sayed-Khaiyum says as the investigation reveals more about the extent of the incident, their cybersecurity measures will be adapted to evolve alongside new cybersecurity threats.

Some Fijian govnet websites are down including the COVID-19 vaccination registration site.

Legend FM News has also received confirmation that education.gov.fj, justice.gov.fj, employment.gov.fj agriculture.gov.fj, employeeportal.gov.fj and itc.gov.fj are also down.

We are also receiving information that the GovNet emails have also gone down.