Cameroon's National Social Insurance Fund (CNPS) has revealed a recent breach of its information system, but claims the documents in the hackers' possession are insignificant and have no impact on its operations.

On September 12, a hacker gang known as Space Bears claimed to have infiltrated CNPS's system and was holding sensitive information belonging to the company.

It gave the company 10 days to complete negotiations and pay an unknown ransom, or else they will publicly release the documents.

The director general of CNPS, Noël Alain Olivier Mekulu Mvondo Akame, said the hackers used alarmist tactics to create the impression they had hacked the entire system.

“After investigation, the information in their possession undoubtedly came from the computers of two CNPS employees who had accidentally clicked on a malicious link,” Akame said.

He went on to say: “In light of the above, the CNPS would like to reiterate to all of its stakeholders that the CNPS information system, the security of which is an absolute priority, is operating normally, as are all of its services, including online services, and has not been interrupted despite the threats of hacking and attacks by these criminals in an organised gang.”

Akame stated that CNPS IT staff, expert service providers, and the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies were working to improve the integrity of the CNPS information system in light of the detected threats.

Cyber security experts had feared the threat posed by Space Bears would affect 1.5 million retirees since their personal information was at risk, perhaps leading to identity theft, fraud, frauds, and other hostile acts against individual victims.