Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) site hacked

Trycolyn Pikirayi Avatar
ZSE Website Cassava Shares

Apparently, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) site has been hacked.

We received a tip alerting us to this some minutes ago (two actually, one came as I was already writing this). Nonetheless, we’re not sure how long it’s been like that maybe because our own internal ‘Equities Analyst’ who faithfully checks on it every now and then is away.

If this indeed is a hack, this will not be the first time the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange site is hacked. Back in 2011 the site also faced some downtime, though then it was indeed a confirmed hack. It then took ZSE 2 years to ‘recover’ from that hack and in 2013, they (re)launched a website. This time, the website was developed a local company called Big Law (the previous one was Adept Solutions).

As if that was not enough, in 2016, the ZSE site was taken down. By that I mean the one people had commended was taken down and replaced by a rather pathetic one. There were no explanations as to why they had chosen to go down that road. This action in turn also affected other businesses that relied on the site for information etc. e.g. ZimStocks.

And now? Now this.

Also interestingly, the websites for Kefalos and Lobels are also displaying the same funny symbols that the ZSE site is displaying. And from our check, all these three websites are being hosted by YoAfrica. So there are two things involved; i) it might not be a direct attack on the ZSE site itself, but more of an attack on the host, ii) the other three are just a cover up or lastly iii) someone is on a hacking spree.

All these possibilities have their own different implications, but the bottom line is it all doesn’t look good… at all. Seeing how the Zim Stock Exchange had become interesting to follow following the step down of the former president of Zimbabwe (still feels strange to write that).

In fact, the ZSE site has been doing much in serving as an indicator as to how much trust and confidence the people (local and foreign) are developing in this ‘new’ Zimbabwe. We sincerely hope that it’s just a technical glitch and not a hack otherwise that a serious 10 steps back.

We’d be sure to write more on the implications of whatever this is after we can sincerely confirm if it’s a hack or not.

Updates:

Confirmed, it was a hack.

According to a reliable source, the 3 websites that we mentioned above are not the only ones that have faced an outage. It seems like some of the sites that are hosted by YoAfrica have been affected by this hack. So the hack may actually have been targeted towards YoAfrica servers which host these sites and not the individual websites.

If you know other websites that are currently offline, please let us know in the comments down below. We will continue to update as more information comes.

29 December 2017:

The ZSE website is now back online.

17 comments

  1. Mbonisi Mtunzi (GeekBro)

    Yooh Tight ,Maone Zimbabwe , ne Nyaya dzeCyber Crime idzi

  2. Megamind

    all my websites hosted with Utande (yoafrica) are down it shld be their servers that are dwn. seems since yoafrica joined utande their service have been substandard . and they never explain why these services are like so. now and again we lose data and we never get any explanations to why that is

    1. Sagitarr

      Have you ever considered having an SLA with them something like tying up poor or no service over time with reduced subscriptions….?

  3. kilotango

    csz.org.zw too and umfurudzipark.co.zw as well. looks like a server side hack.

  4. LazyMan

    webnames.co.zw

    IS SUSPENDED?

    Please verify

    1. devguru

      webnames.co.zw is indeed suspended.

      Service has been declining over the years!

  5. kalpesh

    Techzim…. Webdev didnt dev the old site, that was Adept (Joomla)…we were just hosting it until the website got attacked. it was noted correctly in this article

    https://www.techzim.co.zw/2011/08/the-zimbabwe-stock-exchange-website-hacking/

    1. Rufaro Madamombe

      Hi. Thanks and sorry about that, we have updated the article.

  6. m1t2

    whats going on in Zimbabwe if sites are being hacked like this . and it seems now easy just to hack zim sites. people cant rely on co.zw in fear of hacks.
    cybersec- gurus our nation need to do something.the rate at which its happening in zim , we are no longer safe.

    1. kazishe

      There is no intention to secure sites or networks. I have heard that banks have been hacked but in silince since we dont get that info. Zimbabwean companies dealing in large data such as banks, ISPs etc have to realise that they need to spend more and have a dedicated security team employed to poke holes and plug holes on their own networks. Alternatively this is a gap for some security company to either be outsourced or consult.

  7. m1t2

    something should be done .

  8. Langa

    The whole day yesterday, I had concluded that maybe the new upgrade to the site (it has always indicated upgrading its site) is not compactable with mobile phones since econet upgraded theirs during the holidays. It then recovered around business news hours- 21:50hrs.

  9. nungu

    Dandemutande is a disgrace. every day we receive different invoices for the same service. make a follow up on the mass emails they send to every client without hiding email addresses.

    1. Trycolyn Pikirayi

      Following up on that. Thanks

  10. Imi Vanhu Musadaro

    When you start off your article stating that the ZSE site was hacked but end it saying that it might be a technical glitch, the article becomes just another clickbait piece.

    1. Trycolyn Pikirayi

      Oversight there. Initially the title did suggest it wasn’t confirmed yet, then i changed it soon after it was confirmed but forgot to change that part ?.
      Thanks for that. Fixing

  11. Ngongela

    Systems do go down

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