While Mauritius is putting much hope and energy into becoming a cyber island, the sabotage carried out on Mauritius Telecom (MT)?s Internet Service Provider is definitely bad publicity. MT first thought the breakdown of the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) platform of the Port-Louis exchange was due to bad weather. But an internal inquiry soon revealed that the failure was due to human intervention.

Since very few technicians knew the passwords and had authorised access to the MT network from their personal computers to repair any faults which might occur, it did not take long to trace the ?hacker?. The alleged ?cyber criminal? is a former MT senior network technician, Vishaal Ramessur, who resigned on 14th March, after working for ten years for MT, to join rival Internet Service Provider. After his arrest, a police search at his house and the subsequent seizure of his laptop computer revealed that he had connected to MT network on Sunday 20th March for about 90 minutes. The breakdown occurred soon after he disconnected from the network.

The former senior chief technician was provisionally charged with ?unauthorised access to an informatics network with intention to harm?. He appeared in court last Friday and denied the charge. He was subsequently released on bail. If convicted, he risks a maximum 20-year prison sentence under the provisions of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime Act 2002.

<B>Reputation marred</B>

This unfortunate incident, that severed the broadband (ADSL) connection with the Internet and paralysed the 3,000 ADSL and dedicated line users, has however revealed major weaknesses in MT?s security system. According to the inquiry by the Information & Communication Technologies Authority (ICTA), MT had not seen fit to change the network password after the recent departure of three technicians. This is what allowed him to allegedly access the network and erase the configuration of the processors and hard disks of both the main and the back-up systems.

In spite of the announcement by MT that it has taken appropriate measures to prevent any such incidents, this case has marred the reputation of Mauritius as a secure cyber island. The government has taken this matter as a severe warning and is already taking steps to increase the security and reliability of the IT systems of government and public services.

On the other hand, this case, which is a first in Mauritian cyber history, might be used as an example to show eventual cyber criminals what the law has in store for such offences. With the ongoing crises in other economic sectors, the country cannot afford such bad publicity.