A hacktivist group, Anonymous Sudan, which is sympathetic to Niger Republic military junta has unsuccessfully tried to shut down MTN Nigeria’s network and other businesses.
The hackers tried to access MTN’s network many times but failed, a source said, which was confirmed by the group.
Anonymous Sudan had in a statement on its Telegram channel, said, “We claim full responsibility for this attack because of Nigeria’s government actions against Niger.
“They are attempting to cut power and are willing to participate in the French colonialistic planned invasion of Niger.”
An official of MTN said the claim of the attack was true.
“It is true, but they didn’t successfully hack us. They attempted to. They said it was because of Nigeria’s stance against Niger Republic; that it was their way of getting back and they are trying to shut down the network in Nigeria.
“They made several attempts but the firewalls around our system are massive. To take it down, you would need to do a lot. There were one or two glitches, but it didn’t affect us.”
Already, the National Information Technology Development AAgency’s Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team had issued a warning that it had detected hacking activities targeted at government digital services.
It said, “The hacktivist group, known for its politically and religiously motivated cyber campaigns, poses a significant risk to our critical information infrastructure.”
The agency advised financial service providers, telecommunication providers, and relevant government service providers to be cybersecurity ready.
