Johannesburg - Insurer Liberty Holdings said on Saturday it had become the victim of a cyber attack, with an external party claiming to have seized data from the firm and demanding payment.
"Since becoming aware, we have taken immediate steps to secure our computer systems. Liberty is investigating the breach and we will endeavour to keep all stakeholders fully informed as appropriate," it said in a notice on its website.
The Sunday Times newspaper, citing sources with intimate knowledge of the situation, said the breach occurred on Saturday and hackers obtained sensitive data about some of the insurer's top clients.
To our valued clients, we have deployed extra-ordinary efforts and expertise to investigate the extent of the unauthorized access to our IT infrastructure. More information will be shared with you at 19h00 this evening when we will be issuing a statement. Thanks
— Liberty Group SA (@LibertyGroupSA) June 17, 2018
"Liberty IT personnel are running around like headless chickens trying to figure out how much data was accessed, and they can't explain to their bosses how they were hacked," a source cited in Sunday Times said.
Liberty said in a media invite it would hold a news briefing on Sunday evening to answer questions.