“Zimbabwe’s E-Health Is Safe From Hacking”

Zimbabwe Medical Association presented at the Annual Scientific Congress has said that the Electronic Health (E-Health) system in Zimbabwe was far from being hacked despite a study showing the country as the most hackable.

The Rapid7 LLC, an American software company listed the country as the most hackable country in the world out of 183 countries on the back of having many internet protocols (IP)addresses that are still using an outdated protocol leaving firms susceptible to cyber-attacks according to Newsday, a local newspaper.

An IP Address is a set of rules that govern Internet activity and facilitate completion of a variety of actions on the World Wide Web (www).

“We are far from being hacked because of information overload.” said Gertjan Van Stam, a researcher at the Science and Industry Technology Development Center (SIRDC)in Masvingo during the question and answer question.

ZiMA is holding an Annual Scientific Congress in Harare under the theme “Innovations in HealthCare“.

During the congress, Isaac Manitho stated that the E-Health system has got an end-to-end encryption making it hard to be hacked. Manitho said that if someone tried to hack information between a client and a doctor what will appear are zeros and ones and the message will be decrypted when it reaches its final destination.

“We are trying to get to a point where we vet the technology we use,” said Manitho answering the question on whether the E-Health system could be hacked.

In May, this year a ransomware attack shut down 16 hospitals in the UK and other facilities internationally. A ransomware is a type of malware that prevents or limits users from accessing their system, either by locking the system’s screen or by locking the users’ files unless a ransom is paid.

Besides the Herald, a local newspaper being hacked in 2015, Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) have allegedly been hacked this year. An arrest has been made to a person who hacked OK Zimbabwe before prejudicing the company of $70 000 in January this year.

Many corporates which have been hacked do not report according to the Minister for Information, Communication and Technology and Corrier Services, Hon Supa Mandiwanzira, making it hard to get statistics of the attacked. Mandiwanzira said that the Cyber Bill to protect the country from attacks will be put into effect before elections despite fears that this would give the government a surveillance opportunity on its citizens.