Monrovia – LonestarCell-MTN is accusation rival cellular competitor, CellCom/Orange of masterminding what it says is a criminally-designed plan that is deliberately congesting Lonestar Cell/MTN service to prevent subscribers of Lone Star Cell from accessing the program and is threatening to report the matter to the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA).
LonestarCell-MTN is the leading GSM Communication Company in Liberia. It is a subsidiary of MTN South Africa, a leader in international telecommunication which operates in 21 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
In a statement Monday, Lonestar Cell says Cellcom/Orange has been using its 143 service to send out messages to all Lone Star Cell subscribers, an act the company says undermines its existing one for three days free calls service.
LonestarCell-MTN Deputy CEO, Louis Roberts is quoted by a release as accusing Cellcom/Orange of also deliberately congesting the service to prevent subscribers of Lone Star Cell from accessing the program. Mr. Roberts added that the move has also been causing traffic jam; something he says makes it difficult for subscribers of his company to freely make calls and access other services.
The LonestarCell-MTN Senior Executive accused Cellcom/Orange of projecting itself as the only company that operates a three-day free calls service. He described Cellcom/Orange action as criminal and wants all customers of his company to ignore what he calls an unfriendly and dubious business practice. Mr. Roberts threatened to report the matter to the Liberia Telecommunications Authority, while pursuing other legal options.
LonestarCell-MTN subscribers have in recent days complained of being ripped off of their credits and their private lines are being tapped on by the mobile phone company. The company dismissed suggestions that the it was taking subscribers’ credits as well to influenced prominent politicians in Liberia be building a data base of potential voters for the 2017 presidential and general elections.
The company clarified recently that it does not have the requisite technology to tap the lines of its subscribers, as to do this is not only illegal, but an unacceptable business practice. The company added that its operation is being fully monitored, as other service providers are by the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) and will not circumvent the laws or employ illegal activities against its earned reputation.
The Political Leader of the All Liberian Party, Benoni Urey is the Chairman of the board of LonestarCell-MTN and it is not clear whether the action of Cellcom/Orange is intended to deliberately and maliciously portray him in a negative way. The report comes amid a recent acknowledgement from the cellular giant that it was a victim of a cyber-attack.
Last October, GSM Company LonestarCell-MTN, explained that the unusual service disruption within its network was a result of unprecedented cyber-attacks. The company at the time disclosed that the situation had intermittently denied segments of its customer base of voice, SMS and Data services, at various times.
FrontPageAfrica has learned that the LonestarCell-MTNissue is being compounded after hackers under the alias ROR [RG] published in the Tor network link to archive containing personal and financial information about 3 million subscribers Liberian operator Lonestar Cell connection. Information contained in the archive, according to reports gathered, enables hackers to access the accounts of customers and Lonestar Cell contains personal identification keys and data SIM-cards.
ROR [RG] and previously carried out a large-scale break-ins. In the spring of 2015 a hacker broke into a dating site for adults Adult Friends Finder and put up for sale the service database. Dump site database contains information on 4 million users. The attacker was selling archives for 70 Bitcoins (about $ 16,800 at the exchange rate as of May 2015). Then the hacker offers services for hacking corporate websites and intranets for Bitcoins 750 (approximately $ 180 thousand).
The hacking of Lonestar Cell is not the first security incident of the attack on the mobile operators. Hacking network operators and wiretapping of calls subscribers engaged in the US NSA as part of a global surveillance program PRISM. Industry observers say attackers in some instances have sought to sell the personal data of customers or make them public.
