Hackers take over Ekurhuleni metro’s Facebook page

The 249 000 followers of the City of Ekurhuleni’s Facebook page were stunned when treated to racy and lewd images they thought the metro had posted.

Some followers could not believe it when they saw the naughty content, including a picture of a semi-nude woman wearing only a bikini and lying on a patio suite.

In reaction, hundreds of followers used the comments section to express their shock at what they thought the admin had done.
It appears the hacker also changed some of the profile features of the page and login details, but the account name remains the City Of Ekurhuleni.

Despite the severity of the problem, followers quickly spiced up the comment section with dark humour, the mocking of stereotypes, sarcastic comments and criticism of the metro. One follower, Michelle Joseph, even said they seem to have more interaction with the hacker than they do with the metro team.

The March 6 naughty content forced the metro to release a statement explaining that its social media site was hacked and that it was the attacker who posted the ‘inappropriate’ pictures, not the city.
According to the metro spokesperson, Zweli Dlamini, in hopes of getting its account back, the municipality reported the hackers to Facebook and, together with the city’s ICT department, is working to get things back to normal.

However, the situation invites some obvious questions: How, without access to the account, could the metro recover its official page it had worked hard to grow since 2013? Will Facebook act speedily to get the account back from the hacker and still with the 10 years’ worth of content, including pictures and videos?

“We have reached out to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for assistance in resolving the issue,” said Dlamini.

Play it safe
Dlamini explained that the site is not hosted in the city and is not part of the city’s infrastructure.

“We urge everyone to exercise caution when engaging with any unauthorised pages that claim to represent the City of Ekurhuleni on Facebook. The public should only rely on information from our official website or other verified social media channels.

“We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused our followers and the public. We will continue to provide updates as we work to rectify this issue. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.”

Followers’ reaction to inappropriate images
Maritza Botha: Can the hacker please schedule the waste removal on the department’s behalf?
Talha van Zyl: No ways. A perfect example of how things are run.
Zita Ribeiro McCann: Very intelligent posts lately.
Claire KiKi Nelson-Esch: Is there any way you could also get into the billing system and refund all of us. Pretty please?
Bongani Shuni Nkabi: More proof of how much of a joke this government is.
Kgoši Seloga: Come over and hack Eskom, please.
Maria de Gouveia Barreira: Love the bikini. Is it on sale?
Tracy Nina Worrall: Wonder what the turnaround time will be to fix this?
Mpho Sadiki: Yoh! I didn’t know that the City of Ekurhuleni was this beautiful.
Buti Lucky: This page is very interesting. Thank you so much, new admin.
Barry Headland: Finally… at least this shows more promise of service delivery.
Nhlanhla Maphanga: South Africa is many things, but boring is not one of them.
Jason van Jaarsveld: Can you hack the accounts department and remove the waste removal charges for a service that doesn’t exist? Thanks.
Phindiwe Makalima: Not hacked. It’s a true reflection of what the city is doing. Someone is showing us the truth.
Sonja Smit: This hacker is ’n oukie daar in Brakpan.
Jacques O’Connell: No, they are distracting us from all the poor service delivery.
Shane Wagie Wagenaar: This hacker is funny. Can’t wait to see what’s next.
Hosi Ndobe Wavumbirhi: What have we done, admin, to deserve this?
Mmatlou Kgomo: Is this Miss City of Ekurhuleni?
Barend van Heerden: Nice vacation. Must be BBBEE contracts paying for that.
Hlamalani Petunia: Now I see why there is no service delivery.
Andre van Niekerk: Well done, Ekurhuleni.
Alexander Andjelkovic: Starting to like this page.
LordAwo Elijah Dellion Crucy: Now I see why my utility bills went so high even before Eskom increased their tariff.
Megan Beardsley Forming: Is someone new in cabinet?
Bongani Zulu: The future of Ekurhuleni is promising.
Mluleki Mncube: You are beautiful, love. We are tired of empty promises.
Barend van Heerden: The person in charge of this page will get a promotion.
Monica Setati: This is service delivery at its best.

Also Read: 10 EASY Ways to Know if Your Computer is Being HACKED