The Defence Headquarters has disclosed that an attempt was made to illegally access its official X account.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Director of Defence Information, Major General Samaila Uba, said the DHQ was treating the incident as a cybersecurity matter and had activated technical safeguards to secure the account.
The statement read in part, “The Defence Headquarters wishes to inform members of the public, the media and all stakeholders that it has detected an attempted unauthorised compromise of its official X (formerly Twitter) account.
“The incident is currently being treated as a cybersecurity matter and appropriate technical measures have been activated to secure the account and prevent further unauthorised access.”
Uba warned the public to ignore any suspicious, unauthorised, or deceptive content that might be posted from the account during that time, stating that efforts were underway to fully recover control of the official account.
“The Defence Headquarters assures the public that efforts are ongoing to fully restore control of the official account. Consequently, members of the public are advised to disregard any suspicious, unauthorised or misleading content that may be posted from the account during this period,” he said.
He said the DHQ remained committed to enforcing strict information security protocols and ensuring that Nigerians received reliable, timely, and accurate updates on the operations and activities of the Armed Forces of Nigeria.
The DHQ also urged the public to use its verified accounts on other platforms, including Facebook under “Defence Headquarters Nigeria,” Instagram at @defenceheadquarters, and its WhatsApp channel, “Defence Headquarters Nigeria,” to maintain uninterrupted communication.
Backstory…
The incident is not the first time Nigeria’s DHQ has faced a problem involving its social-media presence.
In 2017, the military warned Nigerians about a fake Twitter account impersonating the DHQ, using the organisation’s logo and attempting to present itself as an official source. The incident highlighted even then how easily false information could be attributed to a security institution through social media.
For now, the DHQ has not provided details about the nature of the unauthorised access, the suspected perpetrators or whether sensitive information was accessed.
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