‘Anonymous’ hacks NBC’s Twitter account, supports #EndSARS campaign

October 16, 2020 10:14 am

The official Twitter account of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has been hacked.

It appears the account was first hijacked late Thursday night by unknown persons who identified themselves as ‘Anonymous’.

The first sign of the breach was a post at 10:27 pm which showed a message branded with an NBC logo and with ”#EndSARS, #EndSWAT and #ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY” hashtags.

In the message, it said: “No one deserves this brutality. What happened to people could also happen to our families. We are sorry for keeping mute and being anonymous.

https://twitter.com/nbcgovng/status/1316853136548655104?s=20

Another post, on Friday morning, read: “We anonymous group of hackers will continue supporting the citizens of Nigeria. Expect us. #Hacked.”

https://twitter.com/nbcgovng/status/1316990217040134146?s=20

The hackers said in another post: “We Anonymous have taken over all the NG official Twitter’s account to support #ENDPOLICEBRUTALITY. We are together with Nigerians. Expected (the) unexpected. #OpNigeria #Hacked.”

https://twitter.com/nbcgovng/status/1316992857937387520?s=20

The hackers went ahead to ask Nigerians to suggest government websites “you want us to play with”.

“Good morning, great Nigerians. TGIF and it’s also a good day to #ENDSARS and #EndSWAT,” they said, before asking: “Which government website(s) would you want us to play with? Drop your suggestions under this tweet.”

As of 9:40 am on Friday, the NBC website is still active as configured, and TheCable did not find any other government platform that has suffered such a cyber-attack.

Following the cyber-attack, Galaxy Backbone, the government-owned information and communication technology (ICT) company, asked all government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to activate certain steps to secure their platforms.

“All MDAs of FG who have Twitter accounts are advised to activate Two-Factor Authentication on their accounts without further delay,” the company posted via its Twitter account.

All MDAs of FG who have Twitter accounts are advised to activate Two-Factor Authentication on their accounts without further delay. Below is how to:
1. Go to “settings & privacy”
2. Go to “account”
2. Select “security”
3. Select Two-factor authentication
4. Select “text message” pic.twitter.com/LT2Pm90fAr

— Galaxy Backbone (@Galaxybackbone) October 16, 2020
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The development comes on the ninth day of a nationwide campaign against police brutality, particularly regarding the operatives of the dissolved special anti-robbery squad (SARS).

The squad was accused of excessive use of force, arbitrary arrests and, in some cases, extrajudicial killings.

Although Mohammed Adamu, inspector-general of police, has scrapped the unit, protesters insist justice must be served for victims of police brutality while meaningful reforms must be introduced in the force.

A judiciary panel has been set up to investigate allegations.