Russia-Ukraine war: NITDA warns businesses, organisations of possible cyber-attacks

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has warned businesses and organisations of the possible spillover of cyber-attacks as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hadiza Umar, head, corporate affairs and external relations, NITDA, gave the warning in a statement issued on Monday in Abuja.

Umar said the invasion had increased cyber-attacks on businesses and government organisations and called for more precautionary measures.

She said organisations should secure and monitor remote desktop protocol, and other risky services and carry out awareness on cyber security best practices to sensitise employees and users of services.

Umar also encouraged them to always ensure softwares are updated and carry out regular patches on all systems.

“There is a greater danger for countries doing business in or with these countries’ governments, as well as businesses or countries that apply sanctions or are believed to intervene,” Umar said.

“In this regard, NITDA’s computer emergency readiness and response team (CERRT) is urging all ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to take extra security precautions.

“They should harden their cyber defenses and perform due diligence in identifying indicators of malicious activities that could affect their networks, assets, and critical national infrastructure.

“MDAs are advised to carry out checks for possible vulnerabilities on their systems and implement appropriate remediations.” 

Umar further urged organisations to sign up for NITDA’s free web protection service, which will provide MDAs’ administrators with detailed information about the vulnerability of their web services.