Our result viewing portal hacked during Ekiti, Osun elections – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmoud Yakubu has revealed that its result viewing portal experienced several attacks from hackers across the world, some of them from Asia, during the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti and Osun states.

This was made known by the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmoud Yakubu, while delivering a keynote address at a conference of stakeholders on election result management, organised by Yiaga Africa, to launch the Election Result Analysis Dashboard report agenda.

The commission has however, warned that the days of manipulation of results

Yakubu said, “Another technical concern for us is the repeated attempts to break through our cyber security system for the portal. Our Engineers reported several cyberattacks on the portal during the Ekiti and Osun governorship elections, some of them from as far as Asia. I am glad to note that all of them failed.

“However, while we are confident in the security solutions that we have deployed for IReV and all our web presence, we must remain vigilant and continue to strengthen our defences. We have tasked our engineers to do everything possible to fully protect the IReV and all our web resources.”

Yakubu stated it shall ensure adequate training of presiding officers as well as more hands-on training for those involved throughout the value chain of the IReV as part of measures to address the administrative challenges.

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The INEC boss said, “For example, we found out that some of the low-quality uploads that occurred in the field, which some of the observers have also noted, were due to the unavailability or substitution of presiding officers that were trained prior to the elections.

“Also, more hands-on training may be required to ensure that all those involved throughout the value chain of the IReV are fully ready for what is bound to be a major outing during the 2023 general election.’’

The INEC chairman also announced the introduction of new legal provisions, administrative procedures and technological innovations to improve election conduct in 2023.

Yakubu said INEC was convinced that the application of technology to both accreditation and results management would improve transparency and trust in the electoral process.

He said the breakthrough came with the new Electoral Act 2022, which empowered the commission to adopt electronic means for both accreditation and results management.