A group of hackers called Pak Cyber Eaglez have successfully hacked the website of the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Ministry in addition three other government websites.
After hacking the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s website on the URL address mfa.gov.ng, the hackers redirected the ministry’s URL to a mirror site that has a black screen designed by Pak Cyber Eaglez and plays music.
Attention was drawn to the hack on online forums which culminated in the pull down of the website.
Other websites affected are those of the National Malaria Control Programme and National Research Institute for Chemical Technology. Both websites, like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have been suspended.
However, the fourth website that was hacked by Pak Cyber Eaglez is still performing minimal functions. It belongs to the National Planning Commission.
According to the hackers’ Facebook page, Pak Cyber Eaglez said it has successfully hacked more than 200 sites in India and around 180 websites in Egypt were hacked by the group in March alone.
Pharmaceutical companies, personal blogs, electronics, car dealerships and health sites are among those defaced in the past month.
While the group on its Facebook page did not state the rationale behind the hack, its posts suggest that it is drawing attention to the security lapses on websites.
It wrote on its welcome page: “Huh! Now Next Time Keep Eye On Your cPanel | Domain | Your Admin Panel Because We Can In Again, Take Care. Pakistan Zindabad (Long live, Pakistan).”
When Daily Trust contacted the National Malaria Control Programme to inquire about the actions being taken to address the hack, an official who gave his name as Omede Ogu told the newspaper’s correspondent: “Our site has been hacked? I am just learning about it now.”
