FG urges vigilance as more countries come under cyber attack
The Federal Government’s agency in charge of Information Technology has urged Nigerians to be vigilant and report any attack on their computer system to prevent spread of the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware to the country. The cyber attack, which was first reported on Friday, has so far affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries as at […]
The Federal Government’s agency in charge of Information Technology has urged Nigerians to be vigilant and report any attack on their computer system to prevent spread of the ‘WannaCry’ ransomware to the country.
The cyber attack, which was first reported on Friday, has so far affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries as at yesterday.
A top government official told Daily Trust that Nigeria might have been flagged among countries to be hit this week.
The official, who pleaded anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media on the issue, said because of huge users of Microsoft operating system in Nigeria, the country could be a target.
“Nigeria has been flagged among the countries to be attacked. Our massive usage of Microsoft Operating System has already made us vulnerable. We may see the true picture next week when work resumes,” the official who is a cybercrime prevention expert told our reporter on phone.
But the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) in a statement said computer users should be vigilant and report any abnormalities in their systems to Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) immediately.
Meanwhile, the Europol chief Rob Wainwright told the BBC yesterday that the act was “unprecedented in its scale” and warned more people could find themselves affected today.
Mr Wainwright said the ransomware was combined with a worm application allowing the “infection of one computer to quickly spread across the networks,” adding: “That’s why we’re seeing these numbers increasing all the time.”
Although a temporary fix earlier slowed the infection rate, the attackers had now released a new version of the ransomware, he said.
Companies need to make sure they have updated their systems and “patched where they should” before staff arrived for work on Monday morning,” the EU law enforcement agency’s head said.