Cyberattack hits Lagos State Government website

A cyberattack credited to a group of hackers Anonymous has hit the website of the Lagos State Government.

“Lagos State threatened to kill an Anon,” the group said in a tweet. “Their website is currently offline.”

Checks by The Guardian showed that the state government website – Lagosstate.gov.ng was inaccessible for over two hours on Thursday from 9:00 am to 11:30 am.

A staff of the Lagos State Government who uploads content on the website told our correspondent, “I am not aware of the attack on the website” but later confirmed that “The state government website is down.”

The staff, who pleaded anonymity, said, “We will be in touch with the ministry of science and technology to get it fixed and running again – they are responsible for such technical parts of the website.”

The attack on Lagos State website was not the first attack by Anonymous which claimed to be working in solidarity with the ongoing #EndSARS protests against police brutality, extortion, harassment and extrajudicial killing of Nigerians.

The group has so far claimed to attack the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) though the apex bank later refuted the claim, saying its website is ‘secure’.

Other government agency websites attacked are the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), National Industrial Court, confidential SARS information and details of hundreds of contracts awarded by the Edo State Government were leaked, and the Twitter handle of the National Broadcasting Commission hacked.

The group of hackers, however, continues to pose cyber-threats to a number of government institutions.

“Your government doesn’t care about you,” the group tweeted. “Just a reminder, Wake up, open your eyes!”