FG, however, assured that it was working with vulnerable organizations to swiftly resolve these incidents and prevent further escalation
By Kehinde Okeowo
The Federal government has urged critical institutions in Nigeria to be wary of the rise in ransomware attacks.
The Nigeria Computer Emergency Response Team (ngCERT) disclosed this in a recent statement, noting that Phobos ransomware attackers commonly gain entry into vulnerable networks.
The development comes amid recent claim by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Nigeria lost $500 million to cybercrime.
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According to the FG the most at-risk entities include providers of information technology and telecommunication services, such as managed cloud services, whose clients include critical government agencies, financial institutions, telecommunications, education, healthcare, service providers and non-governmental organisations Nigeria.
Although specific affected organizations or entities in Nigeria were not mentioned, the federal government assured that it was actively collaborating with vulnerable and affected organizations to swiftly resolve these incidents and prevent further escalation.
“It’s essential for organizations to proactively implement the mitigation strategies outlined in this document to help prevent the spread of the malware”, ngCERT stated.