An online newspaper with nearly 400,000 followers on Twitter reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Results Viewing portal, also known as IReV portal came under 1.2 million attacks.
According to the newspaper, Galaxy Backbone, which runs the website, said “1.2 million cyberattacks launched during the presidential election, next day”.
The post has since gained over 650,000 views and thousands of engagements.
Verification
The Federal Government-owned company Galaxy Backbone (GBB), which offers information and communications technology services, held a two-day ministerial training for its board members and management team in Abuja on March 6, 2023.
The training was tagged, “Positioning the GBB Team for Effective Management and Leadership in the 4th Industrial Revolution”.
To verify the news report, CDD Election War Room searched credible media outlets for some of the press releases or videos collected from the training but we were unable to find any.
However, the story was reported by News Agency of Nigeria and published by Punch, The Cable, and a few other media organisations.
During the training, the Managing Director of Galaxy Backbone, Muhammad Abubakar, disclosed that “On the election day alone, we were able to block more than 200 attacks and the next day, the attacks geometrically increased to about 1.2 million and all were blocked from our own businesses”.
In a turn of events, on March 8, 2023, Galaxy Backbone released a press statement on its website and Twitter page disassociating itself from the comment made by the various media houses. The statement read:
“ It has come to our notice that a section of the media is carrying some news that INEC’s IReV suffered attacks at Galaxy Backbone (GBB) on Election Day. This quote did not come from Galaxy Backbone Limited and should be disregarded”.
“Galaxy Backbone Limited wishes to assure our customers of continued service delivery to meet their digital needs as we are known for. Thank you”
However, on March 14, 2023, The Federal Government through the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami released a press statement on IReV attack during the Presidential election.
“Generally, threats to public websites and portals averaged around 1,550,000 daily. However, this skyrocketed to 6,997,277 on Presidential Election Day, a total of 12,988,978 attacks were recorded, originating from both within and outside Nigeria,” he said.
“The parastatals, under the supervision of the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, have played a crucial role in providing the enabling environment for the successful conduct of a credible, free, fair, and transparent election,” the statement read.
Numerous media outlets including Punch and Premium Times also published the press statement made by Isa Pantami.
Conclusion
Based on corroborated reports by Punch and The Cable, Galaxy Backbone MD made a statement that “On the election day alone, we were able to block more than 200 attacks and the next day, the attacks geometrically increased to about 1.2 million and all were blocked from our own businesses”.
However, with a press release, Galaxy Backbone rebutted this report made by these media houses. This rebuttal was side-lined by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who released a press statement on the notion that the IRev was attacked during the Presidential Election.