Police denies hack claims, says US hosts website

SECURITY   CYBER ATTACK

KAMPALA - Uganda Police has denied recent reports that its website was hacked by unknown cybercriminals. 

Speaking to journalists on Monday at Uganda Media Centre (UMC), the Police spokesperson, Fred Enanga, said: "It is not true that the Uganda Police website was hacked. The website was undergoing a transition from a static website to a dynamic in order to serve better and handle the increasing queries." 

Enanga added that the Uganda Police website is hosted in US, noting that hackers cannot penetrate it. 

"Our website cannot be hacked. It is hosted in US. What happened is that we are transitioning to a more dynamic and interactive website," he added. 

Police's clarification comes against the public's outcry that Police's website was inaccessible. 

The inaccessibility to Police's website, Enanga said, led to some people, who he didn't identify, to make what he described as "false hacking credit" that they "managed to bring down" Police's website. 

"By end of this week, the website will be up and running," he added. 

Of late, there is a rise in cyber fraud. 

In October, Police arrested two top officials attached to Pegasus Technology following investigations into a cyber fraud case where banks and telecom companies allegedly lost sh12b to criminals in a hacking scheme. 

Tribute to Bukedde journalist

Enanga also paid tribute to Vision Group's journalist, Muwanga Kakooza, who died on Monday at Kirundu Hospital. Enanga described Kakooza as a "dedicated" journalist who served his country "diligently" during his lengthy career as a journalist.

Kakooza, who worked for Bukedde Newspaper for over two decades, wil be buried on Tuesday at Ssanga-Matugga along Semuto-Kapeka road.