ANC downplays fears of website being 'hacked'

The ANC has downplayed fears of a cyber-attack against the party’s website on Thursday.

Two staffers at party headquarters Luthuli House said there was a threat by unknown hackers to penetrate the party’s online system to reach election information. This had forced the party to shut down its website and close down its internal online cloud system.

The party’s anc.org.za page reflected an error message by midday.

But ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said the website was shut down “just for normal‚ routine web maintenance”.

“We are building space on the website to introduce new things. That’s all‚” he said.

A staff member said they were told that there was a threat to sensitive party information.

At the same time‚ Luthuli House had to be evacuated as a raging fire in a nearby building in the Johannesburg central business district spread.

Mabe said they had decided to evacuate the building after considering issues of security and building control as a result of the nearby fire.

“Also‚ the road going to Luthuli House has been closed‚” he said.