Ugandan state owned paper, New Vision newspaper has confirmed theft of 62 billion Ugandan shillings ($16.8 million) from Uganda’s central bank by offshore hackers.
The hackers, identifying themselves as “Waste,” reportedly accessed the Bank of Uganda’s IT systems and illicitly transferred the funds earlier this month.
Reports from New Vision indicate that the hacking group, based in Southeast Asia, have already sent part of the stolen money to Japan per analytics of unnamed sources in the bank.
New Vision in further reports said that the central bank had successfully recovered over half of the money from the hackers. In response to the cyber attack, President Yoweri Museveni has ordered an investigation.
Meanwhile reports from another credible news source, Daily Monitor, reported that the theft may have involved collusion by insiders.
Cyber thefts from banks and other financial service providers, including telecom firms, have occurred many times in Uganda. However, police officials have said that some banks are hesitant to publicly acknowledge such incidents due to fears of alienating customers
