Nigeria’s central bank has dismissed as untrue claims that its website was brought down by Anonymous, an online network known for launching cyber attacks against government institutions.
Anonymous had retweeted a tweet by one of its affiliates, @loriansynaro, which read in part, “#Anonymous #OpNigeria #EndSARS #EndSarsNow. The Nigerian central bank website has been taken #Offline. https://cbn.gov.ng | TANGO DOWN.”
CBN’s website on Friday night displayed the message, “500 – Internal server error. There is a problem with the resource you are looking for, and it cannot be displayed.”
The move was taken in solidarity with the #EndSARS protesters.
But the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in a statement by its Ag Director, Corporate Affairs, Osita Nwanisobi, said its website is secured.
The statement, which was titled ‘CBN website not hacked’, read, “Contrary to claims in the social media alleging that the website of the Central Bank of Nigeria has been breached by malicious persons, we wish to state categorically that our website is secure.
“We wish to assure the Nigerian public and indeed all our other stakeholders that the CBN website is adequately protected and that there is no cause for alarm.
“We also wish to advise the online community to desist from peddling fake news aimed at undermining the integrity of the CBN, which is our collective asset.”
It would be recalled that Anonymous had hacked the Twitter accounts of several government agencies including the National Broadcasting Commission which has in recent time been criticised for its highhandedness and stiff media regulations through its Broadcast Code which increased the fine for hate speech to N5 million.