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The Department of Basic Education rejects in the strongest terms claims that its website has been hacked. These claims are both false and misleading.

The department has not lost any data and all files are available and currently being uploaded on to the website. The website server and the mainframe server are hosted in separate locations and the rest of the information including examination data is all safe. The website keeps only a small amount of the Department's information. All information is backed up.

The department is not in turmoil and in fact the sensationalism is unfortunate. A week ago the website server crashed at the SITA centre in Centurion. There was no hacking at all.

The person who "tipped off" the journalists at The Times is clearly ignorant of the backup systems the department has and are also unaware that the department's data and website files are stored separately and not in a central place. It's unfortunate that some individual with a ulterior motive has sought to cause panic when there is no need to do so.

The journalists allowed themselves to be used by an individual whose intentions are clearly malicious. All the documents on the website are copies of the data from the department which is fully backed up. It is also highly improbable that a government department would choose to store its entire information on a website.

We urge members of the public and users of our website to be patient while we restore the data back on to the site. The team is working around the clock to ensure all the data is restored as soon as possible.

Issued by Department of Basic Education