Did The MSM Join The Global Ransomware Business?
The Mauritius Socialist Movement, the party in power that was founded to prevent Mr Paul Berenger from assuming power in 1983, has officially entered the field of international espionage and may have joined the global billion-dollar ransomware business.
The very first thing that we have to know is the origin of the ‘Indian’ spies who hacked the Mauritius Telecom facility at Baie Jacotet.
The other thing the government has to establish firmly, after the real identity of the hackers is disclosed, is the real purpose of their hacking.
But the Prime Minister failed in establishing both the identities of the culprits and the reason why he ordered the hacking. We can speculate, but there is a grim reality in today’s internet world.
Drugs
The MSM is now considered to be one of the parties involved in a vast international network of hackers and ransomware. This is possibly the highest form of derision for a party with a long history of drug trafficking.
Remember the 1986 Amsterdam Boys incident? Sattyanand Pelladoah, the member of the Parliament, is an example of the MSM’s rowdy past.
We won’t go into further details here. The population of Mauritius knows how much drug trafficking is rampant on the Island since the last general elections.
On the spying story, nothing more can be said other than the fact that the Mauritian government became involved in a crime that is considered to be terrorism on a global scale.
Communalism
Since the MSM snatched power in the most mysterious circumstances four years ago, the country is on a slippery and dangerous road towards extreme communalism.
Members of the MSM targeted MP Joanna Berenger on her Facebook post which narrates a very well-known local saying about hypocrisy.
But the MSM woman’s wing chose to play the communalist cards and charged against Berenger in a bid to revive and stir division among Mauritians.
Under the MSM’s rule, there have been, over the years since 1983, many racial and communal incidents. If we follow Mr Jugnauth’s logic, these could also be backed or ordered by Modi?
MODI’s Role?
The spying incident at the Mauritius Telecoms facility at Baie Jacotet was ordered by the Indian Prime Minister based on statements made by the Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth.
Perhaps in an effort to save his position, the Mauritian Prime Minister is trying to flee behind India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, involving Modi in this mess will not benefit either him or India. Modi is said to be on a visit to Mauritius in December.
The media and the people will have their chance to query Modi on India’s interference in local political affairs as well as in the rise of extremism in the country.
As a matter of fact, PKJ’s statement opens a bigger can of worms. More questions come to mind. Now that the spies have the data they need, depending on what type of data they sought and collected, will they sell these to the ransomware network?
We are talking of a billion-dollar business run by hackers across the globe and ready to buy gigabytes of data that they use to ransom companies and individuals.
According to Cybersecurity Ventures, ransomware damages would cost the world $5 billion (USD) in 2017, up from $325 million in 2015 — a 15X increase in just two years.
“The damages for 2018 were predicted to reach $8 billion, for 2019 the figure was $11.5 billion, and in 2021 it was $20 billion — which is 57X more than it was in 2015.”
C’est Jugnauth ki ine fote!
Jugnauth, who enjoys making fun of the Mauritanians by declaring, “Kot Mo Ine Fote,” or “It is not my fault,” has now been implicated in a global hacking-cum-spying case.
However, he is unaware of the fact that his acts as a prime minister, who approved the spying on the nation’s primary technological asset, the telecoms, are illegal.
According to Mauritian law, the Prime Minister required the local ICT Board’s approval in order to ‘authorise’ the espionage, or sniffing as it is known locally.
As it stands, everyone is aware that the board will not permit such actions unless they join the global network of ransomware actors.
Worst still, an Indian portal is saying that Jugnauth may have authorised the installation of surveillance equipment by a team of Indian technicians – at its main Internet cable landing station.
It will be more palatable if the spy team installed ransomware codes on the systems. Without the right ransomware detectors (hardware and software) deployed at the location, they are more difficult to track down.
Whistleblower Sherry Singh aka Prince, former top executive of Mauritius Telecom who resigned in protest against the snooping, will have to clarify whether the Telecoms have the necessary equipment to ‘sniff’ out the ransomware if any.
By now, the ransomware would have reached many computers. It is all Jugnauth’s fault. And if the public were to ask him, he should learn as a gentleman to say, ‘C’est moi ki ine fote!’
Princely target
In June Sherry Singh, CEO of Mauritius Telecom resigned saying he can’t continue without compromising his values.
Since then, the CTO of the MT also resigned saying he too is standing by his values.
Singh has revealed the reason he quit: Jugnauth had asked him to allow a “third party” to instal equipment to monitor internet traffic at the landing station.
In the IT world, equipment does not necessarily mean a piece of hardware. As we suggested above, it could well be ransomware. Mr Singh has to give more clarity on those.
The opposition raised the issue in the tin-can parliament in July and they are still hounding Jugnauth who first denied issuing any order to instal any equipment.
The next day, just like a little boy, forgeting what he said in Parliament (his denials) he admitted thereforgetting was a security issue, and it was necessary to do this survey in Mauritius.
“I have personally approached Shri Narendra Modi to send a competent team for this survey. In Mauritius, we don’t have the technicians for this survey, but even if we did, we preferred to go for this Indian team of technicians,” was his admission. For the Mauritians, this means he is guilty as charged he must GO.
Whether Singh caused embarrassment or not in New Delhi for his refusal to carry out – according to Jugnauth – Modi’s order, is not important.
The point is, that the Mauritius government is admitting that it is a slave to the Indian government?
In his last visit to India, treated like a big shot, Jugnauth was denied access to funds by new players in the Mauritius arena.
Nothing is the same in New Delhi for Jugnauth who is used to extend his arm to get millions in Rupees flowing through his fingers, thanks to Modi’s gracious nature.
But in between the ‘free’ money flow, Mauritius gave away the Agalega Islands to India, thus enhancing New Delhi’s fight against China in the Indian Ocean. This is a huge price the Mauritians are paying.
The violation of the national territorial integrity with Indian money does not end there. It is now into the information highway with a hack of the country’s internet.
The mysterious personality
Now comes the most interesting part in the snooping business.
India sent a mysterious personality who is acting behind the scene. Said to be from Tamil Nadu (we can’t confirm that yet), the person is also said to be a ‘security adviser’ to Pravind Jugnauth.
Prior to taking the ‘job’ in Mauritius, the person was involved in the ‘security’ matters in Sri Lanka and was pinned there by the Modi government.
We know what happened to Sri Lanka. Could this advisor be the man behind most of the economic and political debacles in Sri Lanka? What is happening there is undermining China’s push for its Belt And Road Initiative.
With this ‘special agent’ from the Modi government roaming free in Port Louis (he is probably in command or is the handler of the three Indian spyware agents), we should expect more interference in our democracy and security, says a source to WorldFuture.