The website of Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was hacked on Saturday, 28th March, as Nigerians streamed to the polling stations to cast their votes. The election was marred by disorganization, late arrival of election materials as well as failure of the biometric scanners to authenticate the identities of voters.
Furthermore, INEC website was hacked by a group of hackers who identified themselves as the Nigerian Cyber Army. The hackers went ahead a posted a wordy message which castigated the website security and even disgraced the site’s administrator before curiously ending with a message that appealed to Nigerians to go vote. The website was inaccessible till late evening as polling in some areas ended. INEC acknowledged the security breach.
The security breach on the computer network of the election body risks compromising the integrity of the national elections. Moreover, the manual accreditation process that was used risked being manipulated by interests intent on committing electoral fraud.
The current elections are hotly contested as the two major political parties strive to determine the future of a volatile Nigeria whose economy has been greatly imperiled by the security crisis caused by Boko Haram terrorist insurgency on the north-eastern parts of the country.
