Hackers Breach NBS Website Hours After Release of Crime and Security Report

• Hackers took over Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website on Wednesday night, making it inaccessible.
• The NBS assured Nigerians in an X post that its team is working hard to recover the website shortly
• The bureau warned Nigerians to disregard any report or post from the website until it is recovered

There was a major data breach on the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) website on Wednesday night.

A statement from NBS, via its X (formerly Twitter) handle, confirmed that the website had been hacked.

The NBS stated:

“This is to inform the public that the NBS website has been hacked and we are working to recover it. Please disregard any message or report posted until the website is fully restored. Thank you.”

This is coming days after the statistical body released the Consumer Price Index Report with troubling inflation figures, and the Crime Experience and Security Perception survey reports.

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A screenshot of the website from Wednesday night confirmed that it had been hacked, with the message “page hacked,” but by Thursday morning, it was completely inaccessible.

The security of public data continues to raise major concerns worldwide. In October this year, the Internet Archive went offline after a major data breach defaced the website and left data from millions of users exposed.

NBS is Nigeria’s National Statistical Office, which is responsible for collecting, analysing, and managing official statistics.

The bureau collaborates with governmental and non-governmental bodies to maintain an official socio-economic Data Bank for Nigeria.

A few weeks ago, the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) warned Nigerians about a Grandoreiro banking malware designed to target banking apps and steal financial information from unauthorised access in Nigeria's NIN database.

Unauthorise access in Nigeria's NIN database

Earlier, Legit.ng reported unauthorised access to the National Identification Number (NIN) database.

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This incident prompted an investigation led by the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

Reports suggest that the personal data of Nigerians in the database was accessed without limitations and subsequently sold to third parties.

Proofreading by James, Ojo Adakole, journalist and copy editor at Legit.ng.

Source: Legit.ng