Nigeria Recorded Over 3.8 Million Cyber Attacks During Guber Election, Says Minister

The Nigerian government has announced that it recorded a total of 3,834,244 cyber-attacks, originating from both within and outside Nigeria during the gubernatorial and state’s house of assembly elections on March 18.

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, disclosed this in a statement signed by his Senior Technical Assistant, Femi Adeluyi on Wednesday.

Recall that a total of 12.9 million (12,988,978) cyber-attacks were recorded during the presidential election.

However, Pantami said it recorded a decrease in the attacks during the just concluded election, stating that the attack cut across four consecutive days and attributed the decrease to low voter turnout across the 28 states.

The minister said the activities of cyber threat actors on Nigerian cyberspace during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections “are much lower than those during the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

“This is neither surprising nor unexpected as, Nigeria being Africa’s largest democracy, the Presidential and National Assembly elections are bound to attract more attention of everyone, including cyber threat actors, than during the Gubernatorial and State Assembly elections.”

A breakdown of the 3,834,244 attacks during the election showed that a total of 1,046,896 cyber attacks were recorded on March 17 while 1,481,847 attacks were recorded on election day and 327,718 on Sunday.

By Monday, the ministry noted that it recorded a total of 977,783 attacks.

He also said that the ministry will continue to implement necessary measures to fortify the country’s cyber defence efficiently.