The website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which was hacked by the decentralised international ‘hacktivist’ group “Anonymous” on Friday has been restored.
While the hacking lasted, apex bank’s website was going on and off, intermittently.
After the website was brought down, the following message was displayed: “500 – Internal server error. There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.”
To show that the shutdown wasn’t a normal glitch, Anonymous retweeted a tweet by one of its affiliates, @loriansynaro, which read in part: “#Anonymous #OpNigeria #EndSARS #EndSarsNow. The Nigerian central bank website has been taken #Offline. https://cbn.gov.ng | TANGO DOWN.”
The hackers said the series of attacks on government-owned websites were to support the widespread protests against police brutality in Nigeria.
But the CBN dismissed claims of the hacktivist group that its website was hacked.
The apex bank’s Acting Director, Corporate communications, Osita Nwanisobi, stated the country’s apex bank website is ‘secured.’
Earlier on Friday the Twitter account of National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) was hacked.
The hacking took place barely 48 hours after a viral audio released by an ‘Anonymous’ supported the #EndSARS protest, thereby giving the government 72 hours or risked hacking.
The NBC official Twitter account had tweeted randomly in support of the protest.
Later, Anonymous tweeted: “Good morning, great Nigerians. TGIF and it’s also a good day to #ENDSARS and #EndSWAT Which government website(s) would you want us to play with? Drop your suggestions under this tweet. #TwitterDown #NBChacked.”
Galaxy Backbone, the information technology and shared services provider of the Federal Government, has alerted all federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) on the need to secure their Twitter accounts and websites.
In a tweet, Galaxy Backbone said: All MDAs of FG who have Twitter accounts are advised to activate Two-Factor Authentication on their accounts without further delay. Below is how to: 1. Go to “settings & privacy” 2. Go to “account” 2. Select “security” 3. Select Two-factor authentication 4. Select “text message.”