In order to safeguard subscribers in Nigeria from the global ransomware attacks, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has urged operators and subscribers to deploy firewalls. This the commission said would serve as a proactive measure.
Innovation Village has reported the recent global WannaCry cyber-attack and the NCC said it is raising the alert level in line with its statutory mandate to ensure security and integrity of the national telecommunications network.
“Ransomware is capable of infecting and encrypting all files on a system or any smart device,” NCC said in a statement.
It added that files would be encrypted until an amount was paid for a decryption key, or other means of retrieval (which may lead to data loss) were used to recover the system as an alternative.
“This situation demands that proactive measures be taken by all players in the telecommunications eco-system to forestall the hazards of critical data loss, financial losses and ultimately network/business disruption,” said NCC.
