Isa Pantami On How The Government Blocked Cyber Attacks To 2019 Elections

EKO HOT BLOG reports that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami, has revealed that the Nigerian government blocked over 12.9 million cyber attacks during the Presidential and National Assembly elections held in Nigeria in the year 2019.

Pantami made this disclosure in a statement released by his media aide, Uwa Suleiman.

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According to the statement, the attacks were launched from both within and outside the country, and a staggering 6.9 million attacks were recorded and blocked on the day of the elections alone.

The minister explained that days before the elections, threat intelligence revealed a significant increase in cyber threats to Nigeria’s cyberspace, and the government had to act fast to secure the elections.

Pantami commended President Muhammadu Buhari for his support of government agencies in carrying out their duties, noting that the sophisticated infrastructure in different government agencies played a crucial role in successfully blocking the attacks.

The Minister added that the parastatals under the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy provided the enabling environment for the successful conduct of a credible, free, fair, and transparent election.

“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 centers successfully blocked these attacks and/or escalated them to the relevant institutions for appropriate action,” Pantami explained.

The Minister further appreciated the efforts of the cybersecurity center established under his Ministry, including the National Information Technology (NITDA)’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERT), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), and Galaxy Backbone (GBB)’s Security Operations Center (SOC) for their hard work and dedication.

The successful blocking of these cyberattacks demonstrates the government’s commitment to ensuring the safety and security of Nigeria’s cyberspace.

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It also highlights the importance of having sophisticated infrastructure and cybersecurity measures in place to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure, especially during important events such as elections.