Tanzania has made headlines for restricting its citizens’ internet access after several government accounts on X, formerly Twitter, were targeted by hackers. However, instead of the typical meme coin CA promotions, the hackers had a dark sense of humor, posting about the mortality of the East African nation’s president.
Reports claim that social media users in Tanzania have had to use virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access X in the aftermath of the event.
The hackers, who also targeted some government accounts on YouTube, caused chaos by posting messages claiming the East African nation’s president had died.
Reports emerge about Tanzania’s internet shutdown after hack
“Live metrics show X (formerly Twitter) has become unreachable on major internet providers in Tanzania,” internet monitoring service Netblocks revealed on Tuesday. “The incident comes as a compromised police account posts claims the President has died, angering the country’s leadership.”
The police force also admitted to having its account on X compromised by unknown people. Other verified government accounts that were hacked include the Tanzania Revenue Authority and the Tanzania Investment Center.
Fortunately, the government has since recovered those accounts.
The attack happened one day after the court hearing in the treason case of Tundu Lissu, the leader of the nation’s main opposition party.
Governments have shut down internet services and platforms in the past
The restriction of internet access in Tanzania following the compromise of several government accounts on X could be perceived as an overreaction, bordering on policing access to information. However, it is not the first instance of a country’s government restricting access to its citizens’ internet.
In fact, several governments have been accused of doing the same thing in response to cyberattacks, and the go-to excuses often include citing a need to control misinformation, protect national security, or prevent further digital breaches.
Other countries that have had to shut down internet services in response to cyberattacks include Vanuatu, Albania, Japan, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The November 2022 episode in Vanuatu involved a cyberattack, suspected to be ransomware. The attack disabled digital services across the Vanuatu government, affecting emails, websites, and government systems.
The government’s response was to shut down affected systems to protect data and assess the breach’s scope, but partial access was restored after a month.
Albania witnessed a similar incident in September 2022 when Iranian hackers targeted the country’s Total Information Management System, used for tracking border movements, following Albania’s decision to sever diplomatic ties with Iran.
The government temporarily shut down the system to mitigate the attack, which was reportedly preceded by a July 2022 ransomware attack on government networks.
In Japan’s case, Chinese-linked hackers breached Japan’s space agency, compromising its directory.
Trinidad and Tobago’s government had to temporarily shut down some affected systems after a DDoS attack disrupted the Ministry of Justice, causing outages in court operations.
