The All Progressives Congress (APC) is planning to hack the database of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Department of State Security (DSS) has said.
Disclosing its finding on Wednesday, the DSS through Marilyn Ogar, its spokesperson, vowed to pursue the case against the main opposition party to conclusion.
“Recall that on November 24, 2014, this service issued a press statement on a security operation conducted at No 10, Bola Ajibola street, Ikeja, Lagos, on November 22, 2014.
“We wish to note that contrary to the free opinions variously expressed by the APC publicity secretary and a number of uninformed members of the public on the action of the service, truth remains sacred and sacrosanct.
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“Accordingly, we wish to state as follows:
“That the DSS received actionable information that a building located at No 10, Bola Ajibola Street, Ikeja, Lagos, was being used for cloning of INEC permanent voter cards (PVCs) by some unscrupulous persons with intent to hack into INEC database, corrupt it and replace same with their own data.
“That upon receiving the said report, the service immediately took appropriate steps to investigate same by first seeking and obtaining a search warrant as required by law. This is contrary to claims by the APC that the building was accessed illegally. On arriving at the building at No 10, Bola Ajibola Street, Ikeja, Lagos, officers of this service found that the building did not have the signpost, banner or flag of any company or political party.
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“In the course of investigation, the following discoveries were made: a temporary voter card, a permanent voter card;
“That one of the hard drives recovered from the building contained a video of twenty-one (21) hacking tutorials. The tutorial video focused on the following areas:
“How to become a hacker and steps to take to avoid detection in the process of hacking web servers;
“Steps and procedures of system hacking, passwords cracking, decrypting, escalating access privileges, and creating backdoors to servers.
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“It also explicitly explained how to evade security of databases such as Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS), firewalls, and other measures put in place to deter hackers;
“The video outlined ways to identify vulnerabilities in systems and how to surreptitiously drop a USB flash drive in a target establishment, which when plugged into any computer, transmits malicious codes enough to gain access into and compromise the entire system of the target organisation; and
“Finally, the video explains how to hack into the systems of media houses, with the aim of broadcasting fake stories or headlines.
“It was also discovered that the APC registered under-aged persons including several infants and babies as members of the party. We know that Article 9.1 of the APC party constitution expressly says: membership of the party shall be open to any citizen of Nigeria who has attained the age of eighteen (18) years and accepts the aims and objectives of the Party.”
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“Similarly, the APC registered several security personnel from the Nigeria Army (NA), the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) among others, in their uniforms as members of the party.
“Furthermore the APC had multiple registrations of individuals in multiples of 16, 12, and 10.
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“Several foreigners were also registered as its members.
“Also, the APC filled forms without passport photographs, and have books containing names of people with their phone numbers.
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“Equally discovered were several envelopes containing passport photographs of various individuals.”
The service said from its investigations it suspected that there was an elaborate and well articulated plan by the APC to inflate the party’s membership data as well as hack into INEC’s voter registration database through the creation of party membership forms and cards to match INEC’s voter register across the country.
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It added: “Facts are sacred and opinion free. The arrested suspects have since been charged to court, and at the moment investigation is still ongoing. We shall update the public of further developments.”
9 comments
pls DSS we need real facts and not suspicion, all you are saying dosnt proof a viable evidence but partisanship and impunity against the opposition.
So you are telling me that they are viewing videos and are planning to hack into a database that is supposedly well designed? Doesn’t make any sense. You are gonna need experts that will have notes that they would have made out by themselves on the procedure they will take to achieve a database compromise and not a hacking video tutorial. Doesn’t make any sense
do you even no d meaning of hacking?
Do you wanna test my knowledge?
I am always surprised at the position of this so called DSS. This is an organization that is used to be well respected in the ages past. But right now, it is more apparent even to the blind and deaf that the organization has since be turned into PDP wing. How on earth will a respected organization like DSS be acting irresponsibly on mere suspicion and not fact? With this article, I have a few questions for this organization. First, why did it take you all the time in the world to just come out with this incoherent and inconsistent findings? Who were those people there as witnesses from the other cam when they were finding out all these things? How are we sure all these things have not been smuggled in by the DSS into those things recovered from the scene of their raid? We are too educated for marilyn Ogar to come out with this childish position to insult our sensibilities as a people. It is with my sincere conviction that this organization has been turned into a mere Beer Parlour-Association of Jesters.
for you to b
revent hacking as an ethical hacker, you must be grounded in hacking. the learning tutorial may be an ethical hacking tutorial just like what I have on my system. if the APC was assembling database on a web based server, it will be important to have an ethical hacker.
You don’t need any type of hacker to “assemble” a database. What you need is a database administrator. Secondly, people that plan on taking on a “secure” database and bypassing IDS and what not are not likely watching videos on how to become a hacker. You are gonna need a lot more experience than that. Finally, one will not hire an ethical hacker to hack into a system. Review “ethical hacking and code of conduct”
this DSS story is long on fiction and short on facts. please go to court with this fiction and see if it will stand the evidence test…. shior!!!
DSS is clueless. I now see reasons why Boko Haram is having a field day in Nigeria today. They are presenting APC membership registration form as evidence to clone PVC. Presenting papers are evidence to hack a database that is not internet based and offline. Presented one PVC (with the owner among those arrested) as cloning of PVC, no card printer designed to print PVC recovered, only APC membership forms. What is DSS or INEC issue with APC registering minor? Even if APC likes they can register the dead. Is INEC/DSS conducting election with APC card? does the law prevent any minor from affiliating with any political group? DSS is clueless. No wonder they could not track the IP address used to upload BH Youtube pictures and videos, no wonder AP (Associated Press) get first-hand information in Nigeria before DSS. No wonder why they said we know where the Chibok girls are but we can’t go there. No wonder why our security is in where we are today. What a pity?