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The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, has shared that government institutions under his ministry recorded a total of 3,834,244 cyber-attack attempts before, during, and after the 2023 governorship and State Assembly elections on March 18, 2023.
In a statement issued on Wednesday by Dr. Femi Adeluyi, Senior Technical Assistant to the Minister, the three key cybersecurity bodies – the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Galaxy Backbone Limited (GBB) – tracked these attacks, which came from both inside and outside Nigeria.
The breakdown of the attacks is as follows:
- Friday, March 17, 2023: 1,046,896 attacks
- Saturday, March 18, 2023: 1,481,847 attacks
- Sunday, March 19, 2023: 327,718 attacks
- Monday, March 20, 2023: 977,783 attacks
Previously, the Minister reported that nearly 13 million cyber-attacks were blocked during the 2023 Presidential and National Assembly elections, especially on the server of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
To strengthen Nigeria’s cybersecurity, the Minister had set up a committee to monitor and protect the nation’s cyberspace during the elections. The committee, led by the Minister, focused on improving the security of digital infrastructure, preventing and responding to cyber threats, and advising the government on the safe use of technology in elections.
The committee closely observed the activities of the three cybersecurity centres from March 17 to March 20, 2023, and found attempts at hacking, including Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, email and Internet Protocol Spoofing (IPS), brute force attacks, and other security threats.
Interestingly, there were fewer cyber-attacks during the governorship elections compared to the Presidential and National Assembly elections. This is expected, as the latter elections typically attract more attention, including from cybercriminals.
Pantami expressed confidence that measures put in place to strengthen the country’s cybersecurity, along with the recommendations made, helped reduce the number of cyber-attacks during the gubernatorial elections.
