Two NetOne employees accused of attempting to hack the company’s IT system appeared in court on Saturday charged with unlawful disclosure of data code.
While they failed, NetOne considers that they made a determined and persistent attempt last year to break into the financial systems and steal money.
Brand officer Linda Mutemeri (30) and billing engineer Anotida Dee Munyaradzi (30) appeared before Harare magistrate Mr Dennis Mangosi, who remanded them in custody pending their bail application today.
The complainant is NetOne Cellular (Pvt) Ltd represented by Takaitei Chitekwe, a regional loss control officer.
The State alleges that from February to July last year, Mutemeri and Munyaradzi, acting in connivance with Blessing Tizirai Mudarikwa, a known hacker who is still at large, tried to hack the NetOne system and misappropriate funds.
The three communicated through WhatsApp and held conference calls to discuss how to gain unauthorised access to the NetOne system.
Mutemeri and Munyaradzi shared confidential, sensitive and critical internal configurations of NetOne with Mudarikwa, and connected their own computers from outside the NetOne system to the system enabling Mudarikwa to access the system .
He only failed to enter the pool account due to strong control mechanisms in the pool account system.
As a result of unauthorised access, the financial resources of NetOne were potentially compromised and there was likelihood of huge prejudice.
Mr Takudzwa Jambawu prosecuted.