Ugandan police are investigating the hacking of a firm that processes mobile money transactions for two telecoms firms, including a unit of South Africa’s MTN group. Mobile money is a cellphone-enabled service that allows subscribers to transfer and receive money and pay for such things as utilities bills, food orders and cab rides. The platform has developed rapidly in Africa. In Uganda, a total of $20 billion worth of transactions passed through the mobile money system in 2019, according to the central bank. Pegasus Technologies Ltd, whose network was hacked, processes mobile money transactions between MTN Uganda, the east African country’s largest telecom operator, and Airtel, a unit of India’s Bharti Airtel.
SOURCE: REUTERS