A suspected terrorist group on Friday morning hacked the official website of the Lagos State government, http://www.lagosstate.gov.ng, and that of the Court of Appeal, http://courtofappeal.gov.ng.
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:http://www.masiup.com/ur. http://wikisend.com/download/740694/lagosstate.gov.ng.rar.”
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.”
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