A suspected terrorist group on Friday morning hacked the official website of the Lagos State government and that of the Court of AppeaL
The hackers in a message posted on the two websites after the attack, described the Nigerian government as a terrorist.
The
message read (sic), “In the name of God, Message to Nigeria Government
and State Sponsors of Terrorism (USA, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,
Qatar): Boko Haram and ISIS are terrorists. They are killing Muslims and
innocent people because of your dirty money, hey Nigeria Government you
killed thousands of Muslims and specially Zakzaky’s family too. You are
all terrorists, You are all murders, God damn you!
“Allahu maulana wala mula lakum. Database Leaked:
But at
4:36pm when our correspondent tried accessing the website of the Lagos
State government, it was blank, while as of the same time that of the
Court of Appeal still displayed the message, indicating it was still
under the control of the hackers.
As of 6.23pm when our correspondent accessed the Lagos State website, it was back online.
Responding
to the development, the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and
Strategy, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, affirmed that the website was hacked but
that it had been retrieved and that the bugs left behind from the
hacking were being cleared, as of the time of filing this report.
Ayorinde
in a statement on Friday assured that the website would soon be restored
and it would come out “better and stronger to continue in its tradition
of giving accurate and up-to-date information on the activities,
policies and programmes of the state government.”
While
calling on the residents to be supportive of the present administration
to deliver on its promises, he noted that the incident had been reported
to the State Security Service and the Police for further investigation
so as to uncover those behind the “unscrupulous act.”
Meanwhile,
a security expert, Mr. Chigozie Ubani, said the hacking by the group
was an indication that nobody was safe and that government agencies and
the people should guard their websites.
He added,
“It magnifies the quantum of peril before us as a nation. It shows
nobody is safe until we address the fundamental issues bothering the
Nigerian Union. However, Lagos government should brace up and guard its
critical infrastructure and public arenas. It calls for caution and
vigilance.
“Cyber
attack is not new anywhere in the world. Beyond hacking, there is an
imminent threat that must be addressed as such. Nigerian government
should be worried and careful. The Army can’t continue to fall prey for
traps set by disenfranchised and ideology based organisations. This is
handwriting on the wall. All security agencies should raise
intelligence.”
