A week after a cyberattack paralysed Angola’s largest telecoms operator, endless queues continue to form outside bank branches across Luanda as new details emerge of an alleged ransom demand in cryptocurrency equivalent to the proceeds of Unitel’s recent stock market listing.
The cyberattack on Unitel, which struck on 28 July, continues to disrupt digital payments and electronic transfers. Unable to transact online, large numbers of residents have been forced to queue at bank counters to access cash. Suspended school enrolments, stalled businesses and unpaid debts are among the consequences of the breakdown in digital payment infrastructure, now entering its second week.
With electronic transactions still hampered by persistent communications failures, many Luanda residents with limited internet access have flocked to bank branches to work around the disruption. Long queues — particularly at branch entrances across several districts of the capital — have formed daily, with citizens waiting to make deposits, payments and transfers in person. That is the picture on the ground, according to a report by the Portuguese news agency Lusa from Luanda.
‘There would be no need for people to owe me money if the network were working properly’
Outside a bank branch in the Viana municipality of Luanda, 21-year-old student and trader Madalena Francisco had already been waiting in line for more than an hour to reach a counter. Frustrated by the failures affecting the Multicaixa Express application — the widely used mobile platform that allows payments and cash withdrawals without a physical card — she said her commercial activities had ground to a halt because she can neither send nor receive electronic payments.
‘My business is at a standstill. I cannot receive payments and I cannot make payments. Right now I have debts outstanding — there would be no need for people to owe me money if the network were working properly,’ she said. Francisco added that even her personal purchases have been disrupted: ‘My Multicaixa Express is not working properly because of Unitel’s failures, and here I am in the bank queue — something I absolutely hate.’
The shift back to cash has driven hundreds of citizens into bank branches in recent days, reflecting communications that remain ‘unstable’, according to 27-year-old pastry chef and photographer Mauro Machado. His work relies heavily on information technology, and he described difficulties accessing the internet and using payment applications. ‘Physical cash is actually more useful right now because you can pay for whatever you want with it — that is why I came to the bank,’ he said.
Unitel has characterised the incident as a ‘deliberate and malicious’ attack and pledged to work towards the full restoration of its services following the 28 July breach.
Enrolments on hold, two hours in the queue
Student Telma Fernandes said the disruption has even limited her ability to use her standard Multicaixa debit card for routine transactions, making a trip to the bank for cash unavoidable at this stage. ‘I normally rely on electronic money, but given the situation caused by the network outage, I am having to use physical cash,’ she said, also citing difficulties with Multicaixa Express.
‘I had payments to make and several school enrolments I have not been able to complete because of the network situation. Now I am standing in the bank queue, hoping to withdraw money at the counter,’ said Fernandes, who had already been waiting two hours when she spoke to Lusa.
Roberto Segunda, a 22-year-old unemployed man, cited the ‘disadvantages’ of electronic money under conditions created by Unitel’s failures. He said he felt ‘forced’ to get up early to go to the bank, given the ‘unusually large crowds there every day this week’. ‘When electronic money is working there is no need to leave home — you can make transfers, make payments, and your shopping is delivered to your door. But now the situation has got complicated,’ he said.
A ransom demand in cryptocurrency, matching the value of the stock sale
While Luanda residents continue to deal with the practical fallout, new details emerged this week about the possible motivation behind the attack. According to the business magazine Economia & Mercado, citing a source within the company, the attackers demanded a ransom of 300 billion kwanzas — approximately US$326.5 million — to unlock Unitel’s systems. That figure corresponds precisely to the revenue the Angolan state received from selling a 15% stake in Unitel on the Angolan Debt and Securities Exchange (BODIVA).
‘It was an attack on our network. They broke into our remote-access application and managed to encrypt our data. That is what is requiring such an extensive technical intervention to recover our data centre,’ the source told the magazine on condition of anonymity. According to the same source, the attackers demanded payment in cryptocurrency — a demand Unitel’s management refused. There are no indications, the source said, that the hackers succeeded in diverting any of the company’s funds.
Confronted with those revelations, Unitel publicly denied having any prior knowledge of the alleged ransom demand. The operator told the newspaper O País that it had only learned of those details through press reports and online publications, and that its sole priority at this stage is the full restoration of affected services.
The attack has also reverberated in the equity market: Unitel’s shares fell by nearly 13% on the second day of trading on BODIVA, following a debut marked by strong initial gains — a signal that the uncertainty generated by the incident dented investor confidence at the most sensitive moment of the operator’s recently completed partial privatisation.
A week on from the cyberattack, many citizens say they continue to face serious obstacles in accessing electronic services. The return to physical cash — until recently a marginal habit for many urban Angolans — has become, for thousands of Luanda residents, the only means of ensuring that everyday life, business and outstanding payments do not come to a complete standstill.
The episode underscores the degree to which Angola’s digital payments ecosystem has come to depend on a single operator’s network infrastructure, and the systemic risk that entails when that infrastructure is compromised.
Source: Mercado / Original article: https://mercado.co.ao/luanda-ainda-sente-o-apagao-da-unitel-uma-semana-depois/
