Cyber-hacktivism

THE bombs that went off across northern Nigeria on the day of the inauguration of Goodluck Jonathan, Nigeria's new president, were not the only breach of security recently. The Nigerian government's computers have proven susceptible to a group of hackers called the "Naija Cyber Hacktivists" (NCH). They proclaim their mission on their Twitter page:

In source code we trust
We fighting for a cause...
MISSION: Hand over the whip to the horse

The National Poverty Eradication Programme was the first to be attacked. A protest message entitled "a letter from hell" was posted onto its website. The Niger Delta Development Commission's website was the next to be hit.

The hackers say their aim was two-fold: to force Mr Jonathan to cut back on the $6m being spent on the inauguration, and to sign into law Nigeria's Freedom of Information bill, recently passed by parliament, 12 years after it was first introduced. On May 28th, the president signed the bill. 

The hackers believe their mischief lay behind the president's decision, at least in part. "We played our role, other human rights [organisations] played theirs=#FOIbill got signed," the group declared. It then declared a ceasefire so banks and telecommunication companies, who were warned they would be next, can now rest easy. "This is a new era and we'll definitely give the president a chance to deliver provided the people's mandate be met," the group tweeted several days later.

This is not the first time Nigerian government sites have been targeted. On October 1st last year, when Nigeria celebrated 50 years of independence, a message lamenting bad governance was posted onto the parliament's official website, probably by NCH.

But their activities may be under threat. Two laws which would criminalise hacking in Nigeria, and establish a "Cyber Security and Information Protection Agency" have been proposed. For now, they remain in draft form, lost in the catacombs of Nigerian parliamentary bureaucracy. The cyber hactivists are unlikely to put quite the same pressure on Mr Jonathan to sign these two bills.