A new “cyber war” has been declared against Zimbabwe’s beleaguered white farmers after hackers attacked and disabled the Commercial Farmers Union (CFU) website this week.
A hacker, calling himself Shadow D3v1L, swooped on the CFU on Monday, shutting down the website which had become a useful communication tool between the union and its members.
“The attack took place on Monday after the hackers managed to get through the union’s computer security system,” a CFU official told The Zimbabwean.
The attack disabled the website, inserting words such as “Sas-Terrorist”, “Jerusalem Hacker” and “Crack-Man” on the home page.
The CFU website had become an important tool through which the union communicates vital information to its members, the majority of whom are fighting President Robert Mugabe’s government in court over his controversial land reform programme.
The union was on Monday frantically trying to restore its website while at the same time ascertaining whether the hackers were operating outside Zimbabwe or within the country.
The attack came as the CFU appeared to be making some headway in its battle to force Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) to agree to pay compensation for farms expropriated since 2000 and to stop its violent campaign to evict remaining white farmers from their properties.