Namibia’s Digital Economy Needs Cybersecurity as Much as It Needs Connectivity

ON 6 MARCH, something quietly broke inside the Namibia Airports Company.

The company described it as a limited disruption.

The full picture only surfaced on 19 March, when the INC Ransomware Group announced the attack and the Namibia Cyber Security Incident Response Team confirmed it.

Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (Cran) spokesperson Mufaro Nesongano said the attackers claimed to have exfiltrated approximately 500GB of data, including financial records, human resources information, customer data and contact details.

It said this made the airports company the second Namibian victim of the INC Ransomware Group after an incident at the Otjiwarongo municipality.

Weeks later the company confirmed that the data, including airport permit system files and engineering documents, had been dumped on the dark web.

Flights kept landing throughout.

Nothing showed on the runway, and that is exactly the problem.

A breach that disrupts nothing you can see is easy to ignore.

It was not the first time.