LONDON: The US and UK have issued warnings to travelers after a major data breach in Somalia’s electronic visa system, with personal information from tens of thousands of applicants believed to have been exposed, the BBC reported on Saturday.
The US Embassy in Mogadishu said it had received credible reports that unidentified hackers had penetrated the Somali government’s e-visa platform, potentially compromising data from at least 35,000 people.
Documents circulating online reportedly include applicants’ names, photographs, dates of birth, marital status, home addresses and email contacts.
The UK government has also cautioned travelers that the breach is ongoing and could expose any information entered into the system, urging people to “consider the risks before applying for an e-visa required for travel to Somalia.”
Somali authorities have not commented publicly, but the government has quietly shifted its visa service from its original evisa.gov.so site to a new platform, without explanation. The incident has added fresh strain to already tense relations between Mogadishu and Somaliland, which declared independence in 1991 but remains unrecognized internationally.
