ADDIS ABABA, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Ethiopia Information Network Security Agency (INSA) disclosed on Saturday it has foiled a cyber hacking attempt by a group of more than 200 hackers on its finance infrastructure.
INSA, in a press statement issued Saturday, said a group of more than 200 hackers unsuccessfully tried on Thursday to attack the cyber infrastructure of both state and privately-owned banks.
"The cyber-hacking attempt generally called the Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDoS) which was tried on Thursday aimed to immobilize the finance infrastructure of Ethiopia."
"However, a coordinated and prompt response from INSA to the cyber hacking attempt prevented it from inflicting heavy damage on Ethiopia's finance infrastructure," said the INSA statement.
The INSA statement admitted the internet infrastructure of Ethiopia was completely switched of for about 20 minutes on Thursday as part of measures to counteract the cyber hacking attempt.
Ethiopia is currently on a drive to upgrade its largely traditional basic services infrastructure and government bureaucracy, using secure cyber technology as a key component.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who was previously head of INSA has since assuming office in April 2018, engaged on an ambitious drive to introduce cyber technology across all public and private sectors.
