MTN suffers data breach exposing customer information

Delegates walk past the MTN logo at the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2024 conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on 7 February 2024. Reuters/Esa Alexander/File Photo

"Our core network, billing systems and financial services infrastructure remain secure and fully operational.

"An unknown third party has claimed to have accessed data linked to parts of our systems. At this stage we do not have any information to suggest that customers’ accounts and wallets have been directly compromised," it said.

MTN said it immediately activated its cybersecurity response processes including informing the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Hawks in South Africa.

"We also informed the relevant country authorities and will continue to update them on an ongoing basis while working closely with them and law enforcement agencies in supporting their investigations.

"We are in the process of notifying affected customers in compliance with local legal and regulatory obligations," the telecoms company said.

As a reminder, MTN provided the following security measures for its customers:

• To mitigate any fraudulent consequences, a fraud alert can be placed on an individual’s credit report at any of the major credit bureaus.
• Keep MTN, MoMo and banking apps and devices updated.
• Use strong, unique passwords for accounts and change them regularly.
• Be cautious of unexpected messages and do not click on suspicious links.
• Do not disclose information such as passwords, PINs and OTP when asked to do so by phone, text message or email.
• Where multifactor authentication is available, it should be activated.