The National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Dr Vincent Olatunji, has said that hackers launched more than 2,000 attacks on the commission’s service portal within one week, highlighting the growing cyber threats facing government institutions as Nigeria expands its digitalisation efforts.
Olatunji disclosed this on Monday in Abuja at a Technical and Organisational Drill on Data Protection Measures for IT Administrators Across Ministries, Departments and Agencies organised by the NDPC.
According to him, the attacks underlined the urgent need for government institutions to strengthen their cyber defences and build the human capacity required to protect sensitive information and digital infrastructure.
He said, “Within one week, we experienced more than 2,000 attempts on our service portal. More than 2,000 within one week. You can imagine what that means.”
The NDPC boss explained that cyberattacks could be motivated by different objectives, ranging from attempts to embarrass government institutions to financial extortion and other malicious activities.
