The acting Managing Director of Ghana Post Company Limited has dismissed claims that the GhanaPostGPS system has been hacked.

 James Kwofie said the image of the so-called hack sent to an Accra-based radio station was a photo-shopped picture of someone who debugged his own phone and added the logo of the Ghana Post GPS.

“The person sent the image when we were at the interview on the GhanaPostGPS, instead of verifying the image, the presenter just puts it on air. We pointed the anomaly to him but he went on and on about it.

“He asked questions about some of the parameters and something about UID in the system and made reference to how the alleged hacker claimed he got some phone numbers. It was pointed to the presenter that we did not have those parameters in the system.

“We disputed the claims and when the image was sent to us after the interview, we realised that it was his own phone he was trying to debug. He just put the GhanaPostGPS logo to make it look as though he hacked the system which is completely false.

“We informed the station that this is what the person had done but they said they contacted the person and he had travelled to Liberia,” he explained.

Mr Kwofie observed that there was no information technology system in the world today that was totally immune to hacking but maintained that what was sent to the radio station was not true.

“When you talk about hacking, no IT system in the world is fool-proof. Hacking is possible with any system but so far nobody has hacked the GhanaPostGPS system.

“We would encourage our partners in the media to verify such claims before going public. We appreciate the concerns but the criticisms should be constructive and help consolidate what has been done so far.

"The future is digital and the opportunities in this project for our young people is incredible,” he added.   

Data protection

The Ghana Post boss said data provided during the download and registration was safe and would not be compromised.

He, therefore, urged the public to download the app, generate and register their addresses as in the near future, the address would be verified before National Identification Authority (NIA) registration for the Ghana card, banking transactions, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority transactions among other activities.  

“You are well protected. This system has multiple firewalls, it has multiple access levels, the information stored in it is only on a need to know basis to authorised persons. It is also protected by the Data Protection Act.

“Most of all, there would be enforcement of any breaches. A Data Protection Committee has been formed led by National Security to ensure that there are no violations and where there are violations, they are immediately dealt with," he added.

Mr Kwafie assured that whatever details users put in the system would be used for the purpose it was intended for and nothing more.

System

Launched on October 18, 2017, the GhanaPostGPS is a global addressing system which divides Ghana into 5mx5m squares and assigns each one a unique address, known as the digital address.

A national address registry is being embedded in the system to enable individuals to validate their homes and businesses for easy direction and identification.