The Nigerian cyberspace recorded 6,997,277 threats during the last presidential election, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has disclosed.
He said the figure was an astronomical rise from the average of 1,550,000 threats to public websites and portals recorded daily in the build up to the 2023 elections.
“It is worth noting that in the run-up to the 2023 general election, threat intelligence revealed an astronomical increase in cyber threats to Nigerian cyberspace.
“Generally, threats to public websites and portals averaged around 1,550,000 daily. However, this skyrocketed to 6,997,277 on Presidential Election Day,” he stated in a release by his spokesperson, Uwa Sulaiman.
It was disclosed that, a total of 12,988,978 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria, during the period.
Also, 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.
The release highlighted the activities of the ministry towards ensuring a safe and secured cyberspace for Nigerians before, during and after the presidential election.
This, the minister stated, was part of its mandate to ensure adequate protection of Nigeria’s cyberspace to a level that citizens will have confidence in digital services.
“This mandate aligns with the goals and objectives of the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy for a Digital Nigeria (NDEPS),” it was stated in the release.
It was also disclosed that the parastatals under the ministry established some cybersecurity centres, as part of the efforts at supporting the initiatives of securing the Nigerian cyberspace.
These centres included the National Information Technology (NITDA)’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT); the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), and Galaxy Backbone (GBB)’s Security Operations Centre (SOC).
These centres, established between 2020 and 2022 in line with the minister’s policy directives, have been monitoring Nigerian cyberspace for potential threats.
They have also been taking appropriate actions to mitigate the threats, both individually and collectively as well as in collaboration with other stakeholders.
It was stated that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, passionate about ensuring a safe and secure cyberspace, directed all the parastatals to enhance their 24/7 monitoring of the networks and traffic for potential attacks from 24 February to 27 February, 2023.
“Furthermore, on 24 February, 2023, the Honourable Minister inaugurated the Ministerial Standing Committee on Advisory Role for the Protection of Nigerian Cyberspace and ICT Infrastructure.
“The committee, 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:
“Monitoring of Telecommunication Infrastructure for the successful conduct of credible, free, fair, and transparent elections;
“Developing and implementing plans to enhance the resilience of critical digital infrastructure against cyber threats;
“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;
“Developing a comprehensive risk assessment, analysing the nation’s current cybersecurity capabilities, and identifying gaps that need to be addressed; and
“Providing professional advice to the Government on the effective utilisation of digital technologies in the conduct of the 2023 general election.
The activity of the committee started on 24 February, 2023 and came to an end on 28 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,” it was further revealed.
It was noted 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.
Professor Pantami commended all stakeholders in the digital economy ecosystem for their support that resulted into this this unprecedented success.
He noted that these attainments were as a result of the commitment of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari towards ensuring Nigeria’s successful transition into the digital economy.
“The digital economy sector has enjoyed continued support of the president”, Pantami said and hoped that lessons learned during the process will be put to effective use in subsequent elections.
