BY NKECHI NAECHE-ESEZOBOR—The Nigerian apex bank, the Central Bank of Nigeria ( CBN) at the weekend debunked claims in the social media alleging that its website has been hacked by some unknown persons.
It would be recalled that anonymous an online network known for launching cyber attacks against government institutions, had claimed responsibility for bringing down the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The move was taken in solidarity with the #EndSARS protesters.
Anonymous retweeted a tweet by one of its affiliates, @loriansynaro, which read in part, “#Anonymous #OpNigeria #EndSARS #EndSarsNow. The Nigerian central bank website has been taken #Offline. https://cbn.gov.ng | TANGO DOWN.”
The website of Nigeria’s apex bank on Friday night displayed the message, “500 – Internal server error. There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.”
Earlier, Anonymous had hacked the Twitter accounts of several government agencies including the National Broadcasting Commission which has in recent time been criticised for its highhandedness and stiff media regulations through its Broadcast Code which increased the fine for hate speech to N5 million.
But the apex bank, in a statement issued on Friday night by its spokesperson , Osita Nwanisobi, Ag. Director, Corporate Communications emphasised that its website was intact and not taken over by the hackers as claimed.
The statement reads: “Contrary to claims in the social media alleging that the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) www.cbn.gov.ng has been breached by malicious persons, we wish to state categorically that our website is secure.
“We wish to state categorically that our website is secure.
We wish to assure the Nigerian public and indeed all our other stakeholders that the CBN website is adequately protected and that there is no cause for alarm.
“We also wish to advise members of the online community to desist from peddling false news aimed at undermining the integrity of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which is our collective asset.”
