NBS Blames Hackers For Compromised Website
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has raised an alarm over its official website being compromised by hackers.
The Bureau’s message comes hours after a disturbing survey report posted on the said website indicated that over 600,000 Nigerians were killed in 2.2 million kidnap incidents, while a whopping N2.23 trillion was paid out as ransom between May 2023 and April 2024.
These chilling figures quoted the recently published NBS’ latest Crime Experience and Security Perception Survey report which further claimed that about 51.89 million crime incidents took place across Nigerian households
However, the Bureau has now distanced itself from the survey reports with the website’s hacking claims posted on its X (formerly Twitter) handle on Wednesday night.
According to the NBS, efforts were ongoing to recover the website and warned Nigerians to disregard any message or report posted on the website until it was fully recovered.
The message read; “This is to inform the public that the NBS Website has been hacked and we are working to recover it. Please disregard any message or report posted until the website is fully restored.”
A check on the allegedly compromised website showed a displayed warning; “Page Hacked”.
Also, efforts to navigate the site came up with the following message; “This Site can’t be reached”.
Available information indicate that the hacking of the NBS website is coming about two weeks after the Bureau unveiled its redesigned platform which the management said was meant to further enhance effective service delivery.
Already, the incident has raised concerns about the potential misuse of official data as well as the integrity of vital national statistics during the recovery period.
