Cyber terrorist hack Defence Headquarters & Navy websites

The Chief of Defence Staff, Chief Air Marshal Oluseyi Petinrin, on Tuesday, disclosed that Defence Headquarters’ website has been attacked by hackers.

Petintin warned that fraudsters might hinder the actualisation of the CBN’s cashless policy if concrete measures were not put in place to counter such moves.

The Defence Chief, who made the disclosure at the opening ceremony of World Cyber Security Conference in Abuja, said it would be at the nation’s peril “to overlook the threat to the cashless policy because before the pronouncement of the policy, cyber attacks have been a major threat to Nigerian community.”

He noted that the menace is becoming rampant as cyber criminals infiltrate systems of some major world corporations and institutions, stealing confidential information.

"Here in Nigeria, our defence and security institutions have not been left out. My Defence Headquarters' website for example was hacked not long ago. One of the Services, the Navy, also had its website hacked. We are also aware of similar experiences with other security agencies in the country," he said.

He stressed that the armed forces need to build more ICT capacity because the threat posed by the Boko Haram sect through online reports of their activities needs to be effectively checked.

"So far, we have achieved successes in the deployment of Information and Communication Technology, surveillance and tracking equipment to locate criminals elements in our society and perpetrators of the Boko Haram menace," he added.

He said that further successes would be achieved “if we appropriately apply cyber technology and space researches to tackle the country's contemporary security problems.”