Over 12.99 Million Cyberspace Attacks Recorded In Nigeria During Presidential Election, Pantami

The Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy has disclosed that a total of 12,988,978 cyberspace attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria between 24 -28 February, 2023.

It further disclosed that generally, threats to public websites and portals averaged around 1,550,000 daily, adding that this skyrocketed to 6,997,277 on Presidential Election Day, 25 February, 2023.

These were confirmed through Ministerial Standing Committee on Advisory Role for the Protection of Nigerian Cyberspace and ICT Infrastructure. The Committee, inaugurated on 24 February, 2023 and  chaired by the Board Chairman of NCC and with the CEOs of NCC, NITDA and GBB as members, was charged with the following responsibilities, among others:

1. Monitoring of Telecommunication Infrastructure for the successful conduct of credible, free, fair, and transparent elections;

2.      Developing and implementing plans to enhance the resilience of critical digital infrastructure against cyber threats;

3.      Designing procedures and using technologies to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks, as well as developing the ability to recover from any damage that is done quickly;

4.      Developing a comprehensive risk assessment, analysing the nation’s current cybersecurity capabilities, and identifying gaps that need to be addressed; and

5.      Providing professional advice to the Government on the effective utilization of digital technologies in the conduct of the 2023 General Elections.

According to a statement by Uwa Sulaiman, Spokesman of the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, the Committee’s activity started on 24th February 2023 and ended on 28th February 2023.

“During this period, a series of hacking attempts were recorded, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), email and IPS attacks, SSH Login Attempts, Brute force Injection attempts, Path Traversal, Detection Evasion, and Forceful Browsing.

“A total of 12,988,978 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria. It is worth noting that the Centres successfully blocked these attacks and/or escalated them to the relevant institutions for appropriate action.”

He said that the parastatals under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, have played a crucial role in providing the enabling environment for the successful conduct of a credible, free, fair, and transparent election.