ZEKEY MEDIA ONLINE

Malawi’s government has suspended the issuing of passports following a cyber-attack on the immigration service’s computer network.
President Lazarus Chakwera told Members of Parliament that the targeting of the department amounted to a “serious national security breach”.
He also revealed that the hackers were asking for a ransom to which he said the government would not give in to their demands and was working to resolve the problem as soon as possible.
He said, “We are not in the business of appeasing criminals with public money, nor are we in the business of negotiating with those who attack our country.”
Mr. Chakwera said he had given the immigration department three weeks within which it should provide a temporary solution and resume the issuing of passports, while waiting to regain control of the system.
He said they were looking at developing a long-term solution with additional security safeguards.
Reports say for the past two weeks, Malawi has not been issuing passports for what officials said was “a technical glitch”. It’s not certain if the technical ‘glitch’ is linked to the cyber-attack.

The president only revealed for the first time on Wednesday that the immigration system had been “hacked” without mentioning who the hackers were suspected to be. He made these remarks before starting to respond to questions by Members of Parliament in the National Assembly.
Chakwera sent a strong warning to hackers that they will face the law.
“As long as I am the Commander in Chief of this country, I will not sleep until those who have hacked our system get caught,” he said.
No other details have been given about the cyber-attack including the possible implications in terms of personal data security.
Malawians have been aggrieved and demanding answers over the persistent delays in the issuance of the travel documents. Demand for passports is high in Malawi with many young people looking to migrate in search of job opportunities outside borders.
Several reports indicate that this is not the first time that there has been a suspension in recent years.
In 2023, the government paused giving out new documents after running out of passport booklets, with an official saying that the problem was being worsened by a shortage of foreign currency.
In 2021 the Malawi attorney-general’s office terminated a passport contract with a company that had been offering the service, citing irregularities.
However, for frustrated Malawians the fault falls on the government over the continued backlog of applications amid allegations of corruption.
For now, anyone who does not have a passport or whose passport has expired cannot acquire a new one and therefore cannot travel. Malawian passport is number 131 in the world and holders may travel to 44 countries visa-free.