On Friday, several government websites were targeted by Anonymous – an international group of internet activist and hackers.
Anonymous, which is known to attack government institutions via cyber attacks, launched series of attacks on the websites of some federal government agencies.
The group claims responsibility for the attack on the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), taking it offline for a moment.
The Apex bank took to its Twitter page to announce that CBN’s website was not hacked, and also warned the “members of the online community to desist from peddling false news.”
Although, CBN website seems to be back online, the group claims that the attack on the website is still ongoing, and that the CBN has activated “Under attack mode” to prevent infiltration. The group added that the pages people load is the offline version powered by Cloudflare.
The coordinated attack, which has been extended to other government websites is, according to Anonymous, in solidarity with the protest Nigerian youth’s have embarked on against police brutality in Nigeria.
Anonymous tweeted via their Twitter handle that:
“#Nigeria: International hackers & Anonymous continue the cyber campaign against the government to call out corruption, demand police reform, and show solidarity with brave protestors. #OpNigeria #EndSARS #EndPoliceBrutality #ReformTheNigerianPolice“
The attack began on Friday morning, when Anonymous announced that they gained access to the Twitter account of National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC). The group went ahead to post #EndSARS protest materials on the agency’s Twitter account.
Anonymous also claimed to have attacked websites of some other government agencies. Some of the agencies whose websites were attacked by the group include that of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The group also claimed to have attacked and shut down the website of Lagos State government, as well as that of Amuwo Odofin Local government.