Information reaching this medium from sources within the Central Bank of the Gambia has confirmed the claim widely making the rounds on the internet that a ransomware group going by the pseudonym #ALPHV (#Blackcat) has hacked into the Central Bank of the Gambia and allegedly stole 2TB (terabytes) of highly sensitive data, involving personal and confidential information relating to employees, customers, and the management of the bank. The hack allegedly happened on the evening of Sunday, November 13th, 2022.
We have also been reliably informed that The Minister of Communication and Digital economy, Ousman Bah, and a team of experts were at the Central Bank yesterday to assess the situation and to help mitigate the damages. The team according to our source was able to stop the hackers and retrieve some of the information stolen. The ransomware group was demanding an undisclosed amount of money, but nothing was paid to them, according to our source.
Calls to the Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance were not answered. We have been able to reach the head of Information at the bank, Mr. Ebrima Ceesay. He promised to get back to us in the morning since he is not aware of any such incident. We also reach out to the government Spokesperson, Ebrima G. Sankareh, who was not aware of the incident either.
This is a developing story.