The Malawi government has suspended the issuance of passports following a cyber attack on the Immigration Department’s computer network.
President Lazarus Chakwera told MPs that the attack on the ministry amounted to a “grave breach of national security”.
He revealed that the hackers are demanding a ransom.
However, the President said the government would not give in to the demands and was working to resolve the issue.”We are not going to placate criminals with public money, and we are not going to negotiate with those who attack our country,” he said Wednesday.
Passports are in high demand in Malawi, with many young people looking to immigrate for work opportunities.
Mr Chakwera said he had given the Immigration Department three weeks to find a temporary solution and resume issuing passports until it regained control of the system.
He said that a long-term solution with additional security measures would be developed.
Malawi has stopped issuing passports for the past two weeks, but authorities said this was a “technical error”.
Mr Chakwera announced for the first time on Wednesday that the immigration system had been “hacked” without saying who the hacker was.
Details regarding the cyber attack, including the possible impact on the security of personal data, have not been disclosed.
Malawians want answers to continued delays in issuing travel documents.
This is not the first time a ban has been implemented in recent years.
Last year, the government stopped issuing new documents because it ran out of passport booklets.
Officials said a lack of foreign currency exacerbated the problem.
The issue has been ongoing since 2021, when the Attorney General’s Office terminated the passport contract with the company that provided the service due to fraud.
Some disgruntled Malawians have criticized the government in the past over long backlogs of applications and allegations of corruption.
People who do not have a passport or whose passport has expired are unable to travel as they will not be able to purchase a new passport for the time being.