You are here: HomeNews2020 10 17Article 388372

General News of Saturday, 17 October 2020

Source: thenationonlineng.net

Anonymous hacks CBN website

File photo: CBN headquaters File photo: CBN headquaters

A decentralised international ‘hacktivist’ group “Anonymous” on Friday night claimed responsibility for bringing down website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The Nation checks revealed the website displayed the message, “500 – Internal server error. There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.”

The glitch made the apex bank’s website go on and off intermittently.

Anonymous retweeted a tweet by one of its affiliates, @loriansynaro, which reads 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 reports claiming its website was hacked.

A statement by the Ag. Director, Corporate communications, Osita Nwanisobi, stated the country’s apex bank website is ‘secured’.

“We wish to assure the Nigerian public and indeed all our other stakeholders that the CBN website is adequately protected and there is no cause for alarm,” the statement reads in parts.

On Friday morning, National Information Technology Development Agency’s official Twitter handle provided tips on how to protect one’s social media handles against hackers using two-factor authentication.

It tweeted “Take responsibility, whoever controls your DATA controls your WORLD.”