Expert Challenges Minister over Claims of 12.99m Cyberattacks in Four Days 

Emma Okonji

The claim by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa  Pantami, that Nigeria recorded 12.99 million cyberattacks in four days during the presidential election, has been challenged by a cybersecurity expert, as the claim continues to generate reactions, especially within the cybersecurity ecosystem.

Pantami had last week in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Uwa Sulaiman, disclosed that 12.99 million cyberattacks were recorded during presidential election week.

According to the statement, there were 6.99 million attacks on February 25th, which was the presidential election day, coupled with other series of hacking attempts such as Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Email and IPS attacks, SSH login attempts, brute force injection attempts, path traversal, detection evasion, and forceful browsing. 

The statement further said: “Generally, threats to public websites and portals averaged around 1,550,000 daily. However, this skyrocketed to 6,997,277 on the day of presidential election. Between February 24 and February 28, 2023, a total of 12,988,978 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria.”

Reacting to the statement, a Nigerian cybersecurity expert, who is based in the United Kingdom, Mr. Remi Afon, challenged the Minister and asked him to break down how his ministerial standing committee on advisory role for the protection of cyberspace and ICT came about the figure which, according to him, is unprecedented in the history of cyberattacks globally.