Ekuwem, Odusan warn over hacking of govt websites

Odusan, COO, NIRA

Dr. Ekuwem, GCEO, Teledom Group

Following the recent spate of hacking of websites belonging to the Federal Government and its allied institutions, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts called for caution.

They also decried the fact that some Nigerians have resorted to hacking, especially now that the country is yet to get her own cyber laws.

Webopedia, an online encyclopedia, described a hacker as a term used for a computer enthusiast, that is, a person who enjoys learning programming languages and computer systems and could often be considered an expert on the subject(s). Among professional programmers, depending on how it’s used, the term could be either complimentary or derogatory, although it is developing an increasingly derogatory connotation than complimentary.

Also, word experts at Webopedia, the pejorative sense of hacker is becoming more prominent largely because the popular press has co-opted the term to refer to individuals who gain unauthorized access to computer systems for the purpose of stealing and corrupting data.

Hackers, themselves, maintain that the proper term for such individuals is crackers, and not hackers.

However, reacting to the development following the aftermath of the weeklong protest over the removal of fuel subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan, which has seen some government and its allied institution’s website being defaced one way or another.

At the last count, at least, about three known government agencies had their website mutilated including the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and Nigerian Army Education Corps (NAEC) to name a few.

For the group chief executive of Teledom International Group, Dr. Emmanuel Ekuwem lamented the fact that hacking is a cybercrime and Nigeria is still yet to finalise on cyber security law.

Ekuwem, who was the immediate past president of Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), also decried that certain Critical National Information Infrastructure have not been classified, describing these state as sad, even as he noted that without adequate law in place it would be difficult to criminalize hacking of any website in the country, let alone those belonging to the Federal Government.

“Do we have a cybercrime and cyber security law in place? No! Sad! Have we designated our Critical National Information Infrastructure? No! Sad! There is no law yet that criminalizes the hacking of FG or any web sites. Pity!” he lamented.

And for the chief operating officer, Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NIRA), Mr. Ope Odusan, urged online business owners in the country to take time out to know their web hosting companies.

“I recommend that website owners adopt a Know Your Hosting (KYH) company and demand their security programme for Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack,” he advised, explaining that DDoS is an attack where multiple compromised systems, which are usually infected with a Trojan; are used to target a single system causing a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.

Remmy Nweke

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