By IJEOMA OLORUNFEMI

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) said it had detected activities of a hacktivist group targeting the nation’s vital digital infrastructure and warned the general public to beware.

Mrs Hadiza Umar, Head, Corporate Affairs and External Relations, in a statement on Wednesday, said the hacktivist group was known for its politically and religiously motivated cyber campaigns.

“Their tactics include targeted attacks on government digital services, using various attack types particularly Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS), and they have a track record of successful attacks in various countries.

“NITDA hereby alerts the general public to be wary of the occurrence of these attacks which underscore the undeniable and concerning fact that cyber-attacks are not a distant threat.

“Cyber-attacks are looming danger that resides much closer to us than we may have previously acknowledged.

“This realisation compels us to recognise the urgency of reinforcing our cyber front, fortifying our digital defenses to shield against these malicious intrusions and secure the safety of our critical information and infrastructure,” Umar said.

According to her, the consequences of such cyber-attacks are always severe and may have wide-ranging impacts.

They include disruption of critical services, economic losses, public trust and reputation loss.

Umar further warned that government institutions, critical sectors needed to take precautions against attacks targeted towards them.

“NITDA, through its NITDA-CERRT seeks to advise all MDAs, including other providers of critical services in the country to ensure the implementation of measures to prevent against DDOS attacks.

“Deploying DDoS monitoring systems to watch out for signs of DDoS attacks.

“Minimising the attack surface area thereby limiting the options for attackers and allowing you to build protections in a single place.

“For example; obscuring the target, closing unused ports and protocols, hence minimising possible points of attacks.

“Implementing or subscribing to DDoS protection features, applications or services to fortify your cyber defenses against disruptive DDoS attacks,” she added.

Other measures that could be taken Umar said included ensuring that hosting providers offer abundant redundant Internet connectivity, enabling systems to manage significant volumes of traffic effectively.

Umar said there was need to configure network hardware such as firewall or router to drop incoming Internet Control Message Protocol packets or block Domain Name System responses from outside the network by blocking User Datagram Protocol port 53.

“Furthermore, enhancement of all critical national infrastructure such as financial services providers, telecommunications providers, and relevant government service providers should ensure cyber security readiness and resilience.

“This can be done by implementing necessary cyber security measures to safeguard against potential attacks,” Umar said.

She, however, urged the public to contact CERRT.NG through email: cerrt@nitda.gov.ng or on phone: +2348178774580. (NAN)

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