Publications
Partners
Johannesburg - Security concerns have forced mobile network MTN to shut down its e-billing portal.
“MTN has noted reports of the security breach on its e-billing portal,” Neil Tomkinson, chief information officer for MTN SA, told Fin24 in an emailed statement.
“This facility has now been shut down with immediate effect until the security concerns are addressed and new and improved security features are implemented.
“We are strengthening this platform with the latest fool-proof security features to ensure that this this does not recur in the future. In the interim our customers will receive their bills on e-mail,” said Tomkinson.
MTN moved to close the e-billing portal after technology publication TechCentral highlighted problems with the service.
TechCentral reported that a reader highlighted two problems with the e-billing portal - it was not encrypted and required no login or confirmation of identity.
Instead, it only required “a simple hash string was appended to the e-billing website address — meaning anyone could guess the string and potentially bring up user information at random”.
The reader told TechCentral that this is also in breach of MTN's privacy policy which stipulates that “access to your personal information on MTN websites, mobile applications, products and services will be password protected”.
Are you affected by MTN's e-billing portal closure? Tell us by clicking here.
