Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu: Minister of Science and Tech

Nigeria Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has alerted Nigerians over the recent cyber-attack that is affecting computers across the world – the ransomeware attack.

Director-General and CEO,  NITDA, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, said in a statement Saturday that “this attack, known as “WannaCry” or “WannaCrypt,” spreads by itself between computers and does not require human interaction. It restricts access to the affected system as well as demanding for the payment of ransom. This attack, according to reports, has so far affected over 99 countries and 100,000 machines.

“The ransomware attack exploited vulnerabilities in the Microsoft Windows Operating System, especially those not currently supported such as Windows XP, Windows 8 and Windows Server 2003. Microsoft released a patch for the vulnerability in March and machines that were updated with the patch would have been automatically protected.

He cautioned that “should your system be infected by ransomware, isolate the system from your network to prevent the threat from further spreading.

He outlines further  actions that  can be taken immediately thus:

• remove the system from Network;
• do not use flash/pen drive, external drives on the System to copy files to other systems;
• Format the System completely and get fresh OS copy installed; and
• Contact NITDA Computer Emergency Readiness and Response Team (CERRT) for assistance. They can be reached via telephone on 800-9988-7766-5544 or e-mail: [email protected].

“As a general precautionary measure and as the security of systems is our collective responsibility, we would like to recommend that Individuals and organisations should:

• regularly update their operating systems with the latest patches;
• regularly update their software applications with latest patches;
• avoid downloading and opening unsolicited files and attachments;
• adjust security software to scan compressed or archived files; and
• avoid indiscriminate use wireless connections, such as Bluetooth or infrared ports.”