NITDA alerts Nigerian employees against ransomware group trying to spread viruses

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has alerted employees in Nigerian organisations to be wary of DemonWare, a Nigeria-based ransomware group.

NITDA in an advisory issued on Friday by its Computer Emergency Readiness & Response Team (CERRT) cautioned staff not to entertain the group “by making them spread viruses in exchange for financial gains.”

“The campaign begins by sending an email directly to the employees, soliciting help to install ransomware in their organization’s network, for a percentage of the ransom proceeds,“ the advisory reads partly.

“It is worthy to note that Section 32, Subsection 3 of the Nigeria Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, states that any person who engages in malicious or deliberate spread of viruses or any malware thereby causing damage to critical information in public, private or financial institution’s computers shall be guilty of an offence liable upon conviction to 3 years imprisonment or a fine of N1,000,000.00 or both.“

“NITDA-CERRT wishes to alert and advise staffs of various organisations to be very vigilant and prevent any threat to their networks.“