Mogadishu, Somalia – The federal authorities in Somalia have acknowledged that the country’s E-Visa data system was compromised, reversing earlier assurances from senior officials who had dismissed reports of a breach. The confirmation came in a short statement released after an overnight meeting in Mogadishu, ending days of uncertainty surrounding the integrity of one of the government’s most widely used digital services.
The statement described the incident as a “disruption,” a careful choice of wording that hinted at deeper problems without offering specifics. The government did not disclose whether personal data had been exposed, how long the system had been affected, or what weaknesses attackers may have exploited. Still, the admission marked a significant shift after days in which top officials, including the deputy foreign minister, insisted the platform was secure.
People familiar with the situation say the service had not been functioning normally for some time, with applicants reporting unexplained delays and intermittent outages. The acknowledgment of a compromise now sheds light on those irregularities and raises new questions about how widespread the impact may be.
An investigation is under way, with officials promising to determine what happened and restore full functionality. For many Somalis and foreign travelers who rely on the digital portal, the incident has stirred fresh concerns about the resilience of the country’s growing online systems and the safeguards in place to protect sensitive information.
As authorities work to clarify the scale of the breach, the episode has become a reminder of the challenges facing Somalia’s push toward digital governance, where momentum and modernization often outpace the security frameworks required to protect them.