Gubernatorial Polls: 3.8 Cyberattacks Were Intercepted, Pantami Reveals
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami has disclosed that a total of 3,834,244 attacks originating within and outside the country were intercepted during the governorship and state assembly elections.
The minister made this known on Wednesday in a statement by his Senior Technical Assistant on Research and Development, Dr Femi Adeluyi.
He said, a daily breakdown of the attacks shows that on Friday 17th March, 2023, 1,046,896 attacks were recorded, on Saturday 18th March, 2023: 1,481,847; Sunday 19th March, 2023: 327,718 and on Monday 20th March, 2023: 977,783.
Pantami said, during the governorship and state assembly elections, the activities of cyber threat actors were much lower compared to the presidential and National Assembly polls.
According to the statement, ”based on Honourable Minister’s directives, the Committee provided close oversight on the activities of the cybersecurity Centres, from Friday 17th March, 2023 to Monday 20th March, 2023. During this period and as previously reported, a series of hacking attempts were recorded, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), email and Internet Protocol Spoofing (IPS) attacks, SSH Login Attempts, Brute force Injection attempts, Path Traversal, Detection Evasion, and Forceful Browsing.
“A total of 3,834,244 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria. Daily breakdown of these attacks are: Friday 17th March, 2023: 1,046,896 Saturday 18th March, 2023: 1,481,847 Sunday 19th March, 2023: 327,718 Monday 20th March, 2023: 977,783.
“It is interesting to note that the activities of cyberthreat actors on the Nigerian cyberspace during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections are much lower than those during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.
“This is neither surprising nor unexpected as, Nigeria being Africa’s largest democracy, the Presidential and National Assembly elections are bound to attract much attention of everyone, including cyberthreat actors, than during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections, “ he said.
The Minister reiterated that these attainments would not have been possible without the continued support of President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR in particular, and the administration in general, towards ensuring Nigeria’s successful transition into the digital economy.
“The digital economy sector has enjoyed Mr President’s unprecedented support and it is highly appreciated,” he said.
