Vanuatu officials using pen and paper to run government, one month after cyber attack

Port Vila, Vanuatu

Frustrated officials still using private Gmail accounts, personal laptops, pen and paper, and typewriters to run the government of the prime minister, one month after a cyber-attack brought down government servers and websites in Vanuatu, Ishmael Kalsakau, who took office just a few days after the crash said.

The Pacific island nation of 314,000 inhabitants and 80 islands has experienced delays in communication and coordination as a result of the malware attack on state networks. 

To get government phone numbers, people turned to the internet Yellow Pages or the printed phone book. Some offices were hiding their Twitter and Facebook accounts.

According to a financial analyst who closely collaborates with the ministry's cybersecurity staff, the issues started approximately a month ago when suspected phishing activity was first discovered in emails sent to the Ministry of Finance. 

Almost all government email and website archives were destroyed by malware. As opposed to web servers or the cloud, many departments continued to keep data on local hard drives. 

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Whether the hackers demanded a ransom has not been made public by the government. 

Inadvertent solutions have been used to improve communication between agencies and departments as government departments have struggled to keep linked, frustrating authorities. 

Service delays at several government offices on outer islands are severe.

(with inputs from agencies)