How Cyberattacks Hit INEC Platforms – Former Commissioner Explains 2023 Election IReV Crisis

FESTUS Okoye, a former National Commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has disclosed that the commission’s “platforms” were targeted by cyberattacks during the 2023 presidential election.

Okoye made the disclosure during an interview on Deep Insights, a podcast hosted by Austin Agbonsuremi.

News Point Nigeria reports that his comments come amid renewed scrutiny of the technical difficulties that affected the electronic transmission and viewing of polling unit results during the 2023 presidential election.

Before the 2023 elections, INEC had assured Nigerians that polling unit results would be uploaded to its Result Viewing Portal, known as IReV, an online platform that allows voters, political parties, candidates, observers and other stakeholders to independently view scanned copies of result sheets in real time.

However, during the presidential election, the portal remained inactive for an extended period, even after voting had been concluded at many polling units, prompting suspicion among many Nigerians.

Okoye said INEC officials encountered difficulties uploading results during the presidential election and initially believed the issue would be resolved within a few minutes, but the problem persisted for an extended period.

“What really happened was that the technology malfunctioned. That is the truth of the matter. For me, technology disappointed us. I said, okay, we need to tell Nigerians that this is the difficulty we are having and that we are trying to fix it,” he said.

Okoye said a press statement was subsequently drafted to explain the situation, but he objected to the technical language used in describing the problem.

“And that was how the issue of glitch came into the equation,” he said.

He said the glitch was particularly disappointing given the extensive preparations and sleepless nights that had preceded the election.

The former INEC Commissioner for Voter Education further disclosed that the commission’s platforms were targeted by several cyberattacks during the election period.

“I know that there were all sorts of cyberattacks on our platforms during that particular period,” he said.

Okoye, however, said he could not establish whether the attacks contributed to the problems experienced with IReV.

“Whether those cyberattacks influenced what happened at the end of the day, I’m not in a position to say,” he said.

Okoye added that the commission’s Deputy Director in charge of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) later appeared before the election petition tribunal to explain the incident.