The Municipality of Johannesburg reassured the city residence that their personal information was not compromised by the hacking of the City’s billing systems.

“The City of Jo’burg has experienced an unfortunate breach of its information technology system, which has been widely reported in the media,” said spokesman Gabu Tugwana. “The city would like to assure its residents that this is an isolated incident; the necessary legal and technical steps are being taken to prevent similar incidents in future.”

Eyewitness News reported that the municipality’s online services system was temporarily shut down on Tuesday, the 20 August, after it became possible for anyone with an Internet connection to view municipal invoices.

Tugwana said at no stage was any resident’s personal information, such as banking details or ID numbers, compromised.

“The information that was accessed was not from the transactional engine of the billing system of the City of Jo’burg and the perpetrators were not able to transact on any of the information they accessed. The city is busy with its own forensic investigation with its IT partner to assist the police with the criminal case that will be opened at as a result of this incident,” said the spokesman.

Any future breach aimed at stealing personal or municipal information would be regarded as a crime. The municipality promised to keep residents informed about any development on the security rupture and the actions taken to insure it was dealt with effectively.

Residents who needed a copy of their accounts were advised to visit their their nearest customer service centre or call the municipality’s call centre.