Govt pension fund: GEPF shuts down systems

THE Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) has raised another concern over an alleged data breach in their system.

The government entity said it has noted the release of data purportedly from its administrator, the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) by the ransomware group, LockBit.

“We're extremely concerned with the alleged security breach as it was informed by GPAA that no data breach had occurred when it was notified of an attempt to gain access to GPAA systems by unknown individuals on 16 February 2024.

“The GPAA subsequently established that this was an attempt by LockBit,” said Matau Molapo.

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Molapo said on 12 March, following the release of certain GPAA data by LockBit on 11 March, the GEPF was informed by GPAA that preliminary investigations have found that certain GPAA systems were compromised.

The GPAA is investigating an alleged data breach and whether this impacts the GEPF.

“GPAA has reconfirmed that preventative action was taken when it became aware of the attempted access to its systems, which included shutting down all systems, to isolate affected areas. GPAA further confirmed that pension payments are not affected.

“The GEPF is engaging the GPAA and its oversight authority, National Treasury, to establish the veracity and impact of the reported data breach and will provide a further update in due course,” he said.

Molapo said until the facts have been adequately established, the GEPF is unable to comment further on the matter.