Over 1.2 Million Cyber Attacks Intercepted During 2023 Presidential And National Assembly Elections

The managing director of Nigeria Information Technology and Shared Services Provider, Galaxy Backbone Limited, Prof. Muhammed Abubakar has disclosed that over 1.2 million cyber attacks were intercepted during the 2023 presidential and national assembly elections.

He stated that the center recorded more than 200 cyberattacks on Election Day, which saw the number of attacks heavily increase to 1.2 million while collation was ongoing.

Prof. Abubakar made this disclosure while speaking during a ministerial training for Board members and management staff in Abuja with the theme; “Positioning the agency’s team for effective management and leadership in the 4th industrial revolution”.

He disclosed that the training was aimed at reviewing the agency’s performance while initiating alternative means of revenue generation. While highlighting the agency’s achievements, he said that a business community and cyberspace protection committee has been set up to ensure Nigeria’s cyberspace is secured during the 2023 governorship election.

In his words, “Because of the elections, we came up with a business community and cyberspace protection that is supposed to run for one month and at least one week after the Gubernatorial Elections. On Election Day alone, cyber-attacks cost $4b and how did we get to that, we have a reference, a single cyber-attack cost $18,000 as of December 2023.”

Present at the meeting was Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantami who stated that the training was imperative to reposition staff performance in line with the trends in technologies.

He said, “Training is key when it comes to improving our performance and at the same time training is key when it comes to our self-evaluation, self-judgment, self-assessment. Sit down and review what we will do, discover our strengths and also our weaknesses, and where to improve. The training is to help reposition Galaxy Backbone, particularly with regard to management and leadership in the 4th industrial revolution.

Pantami who served as the training facilitator applauded Galaxy Backbone’s approach to digital infrastructure development for playing a critical and significant role while saving the cost of governance.

Investors King understands that Galaxy Backbone, GBB is a government-owned integrated ICT services and solutions provider established to drive digital inclusion in the public sector, underserved areas, and other stakeholder communities.