Nigeria News

NIMC Server Allegedly Attacked, Over 3Milllion NIN Of Nigerians Stolen – Reports

Published

11 January 2022

8:13 AM

In the suit number FHC/L/CS/711/2022 filed at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP sought an order to set aside the directive by Buhari to telecommunications companies to block outgoing calls on all unlinked lines without due process of law. SERPA joined the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and his Communications and Digital Economy counterpart, Isa Pantami as respondents in the suit. READ ALSO: SERAP Gives FG 48-Hour Ultimatum To Unblock Millions Of Unregistered SIMs “While Nigerian authorities have a legal responsibility to protect, ensure and secure the rights to life and property, any such responsibility ought to be discharged in conformity with human rights standards,” the suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Opeyemi Owolabi, read in part. “Fundamental rights are regarded as part of human rights and are protected to enhance human dignity and liberty. “Unblocking the phone lines unlawfully barred from making calls would improve respect for the rule of law, and ensure people’s right to freedom of expression, and access to information, as well as their right to associate with others. “The blocking of people from making calls constitutes impermissible restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, information, and association. “The rights to freedom of opinion and expression and access to information are protected under section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act. “These rights must be protected online as they are protected offline. Any restriction on these rights must be provided by law, be necessary for a democratic society and serve a legitimate aim. “The blocking of people from making calls on their SIMs also amounts to arbitrary or unlawful interference with their right to family life, and socio-economic rights, as it unnecessarily or disproportionately interferes with these fundamental human rights. “The decision to block the phone lines also appears to be arbitrary and lacks any legal framework, independent and judicial oversight. This may allow authorities to act in an unfettered and potentially arbitrary or unlawful manner. “Under international human rights law, States including Nigeria ‘shall not engage in or condone any disruption of access to digital technologies for segments of the public or an entire population.’ States must refrain from cutting off access to telecommunications services. “Millions of Nigerians including persons with disabilities, elderly citizens, persons living in remote areas have been unable to capture their biometrics, and obtain their NINs due to logistical challenges, administrative and bureaucratic burdens, as well as the persistent collapse of the national grid. “The rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and freedom of association, whether offline or online, promote the democratic ideal by allowing citizens to voice their concerns, challenge governmental institutions, and hold the government accountable for its actions.”

A Nigerian man who identified himself as Sam on the internet has stirred fears among netizens after he shared details of how he allegedly hacked into the server of the National Identity Management Commission to have access to over three million National Identity Numbers of Nigerians.

Naija News understands that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), being the nation’s premier communications regulatory agency under the Federal Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy is saddled with the responsibility of working with all stakeholders to ensure secure cyberspace that is safe for the operators and consumers of communications services and infrastructure in Nigeria.

However, despite all that the NCC has promised to deliver, Sam shared how easy it was for him to breach the NIMC server and access the personal information of millions of Nigerians.

The cyber-tech young man in an article he shared on infosecwriteups.com, boasted that he got access to “juice” on the Nigerian Government agency’s server and that he could go-ahead to do whatever he desired with the sensitive data at his disposal.

A quick check by Naija News on [infosecwriteups.com], the site where Sam disclosed his newest hacking achievement, showed that the site was specially built for a collection of awesome write-ups from the best hackers in the world.

Topics shared on the platform ranges from bug bounties, CTFs, Hack the box walkthroughs, hardware challenges, real-life encounters and everything which can help other enthusiasts learn.

Sharing further details of his attack on the nation’s NIMC server, Sam displayed a defaced National Identity card of a Nigerian alongside his article.

He wrote: “I’ve got one more output for s3 bucket, I casually tried to access it without any hope, and damn! The s3 bucket is full of juice.

“I just simply got access to their (Nigeria) data of internal files, users and everything they have. I can download everything, even the whole bucket. I am sure that the bucket is full of juice.

“I wanted to look at more files but as we have to follow bug bounty rules I stopped doing more.

“I’ve got one more s3 bucket with nuclei and it also contained about 4–5 gigs of data.

“I’ve rewarded 5250$ for only one report and 0$ for the second one even it contained so much sensitive data,” Sam wrote.

Sam’s write-up has stirred a barrage of reactions on social media as some Nigerians on Twitter especially the tech enthusiasts lament how vulnerable the security system of the NIMC server is.

Naija News understands that the alleged hacking of the NIMC server has sent a wrong and displeasing signal to citizens, highlighting the danger the country’s residents and investments are currently under.

Richard

A graphic designer turned into an immensely creative journalist committed to high-quality research and writing. A gospel music minister and Sportsman - @LFC Fan.