Unaitas denies it has been hacked, blames extortion ring
Unaitas Sacco on Tuesday assured its customers that it was aware of claims of an alleged data breach in one of its system.
In a statement, the Sacco, however, urged members of the public and shareholders to ignore the claims as a misinformation campaign from extortionists.
“Unaitas Sacco has noted with concern misinformation going round on social media that our systems have been breached, contrary to reports, our systems are intact, and very secure,” the statement read in part.
The response came after the Managing Director of East African Data Handlers (EADH) George Njoroge posted on social media and intimated that a big firm dealing in digital mobile money transactions had been hacked.
Though the EADH boss did not reveal the name of the firm that had been breached, a blog named the sacco as the victim.
The Sacco now says that it does not outsource its mobile banking to any telecommunication company in Kenya.
“Unaitas Sacco operates on a secure in house and robust mobile banking and T74 core banking system’ which is constantly monitored by a team of professionals. This a superior system that has improved our network security and secured our banking network system countrywide. The purported breach by the online extortionists has never occurred at Unaitas,” it added.
Last month the Sacco dropped its bid to convert into a bank, citing a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) moratorium order as well as the need to grow further.
The Sacco dropped this from its 2019 – 2023 strategic plan despite saying that it had invested in processes and systems to match banking requirements.
It had initially set 2018 as the deadline of converting into a bank.