The group, referred to as the “Beyond Hackers Team” claims that they operate from Chile, South America.
Knowing well that they infiltrated South African Government websites, the hackers left the following message on the hacked sites: “South Africa Government Server... hohoho - pwned by byond crew!! – Chile”.
Speaking at the e-government forum as part of the seventh annual African Computing and Telecommunications Summit in Sandton, Gilat Satellite SA's Africa manager, Wayne McDonald, said: “The way we run elections in Africa is similar to the way we conducted banking transactions 45 years ago.”
With this in mind, the Western Cape government is moving from a neutral to an aggressive phased open source approach.
At a seminar hosted by the Cape IT Initiative (CITI) last week, entitled "FOSS: An Opportunity to Rise to Fame or Are We being Misguided?", delegates heard how the City of Cape Town and the Western Cape government were looking to phase in open source as well as skill up their staff in OS support.
Read more: South Africa: Western Cape government drives open source uptake
Dr Harold Wesso, Center for e-innovation, Provincial Government of Western Cape said other forms of ICT such as television, radio, and mobile phones should also be recognised as ICT tools and concentration should not just be based on the internet. He said this during the ongoing Information Society Week (ISW) in Cape Town which is part of the civil society colloquium which started this week on Monday.
The conference will provide companies with insight on how new technology can enable many e-government initiatives.
“The challenge for government is to continually have to balance the need for improved productivity while maintaining its societal position as one of the country's largest employers,” says Lisa Helm, The Business Zone 1073's production director.