The money was paid to an Italian firm, Hacking Team, to hack computers and phones in Nigeria. Hacking Team, notorious for equipping governments with tools to hack citizens’ computers and phones, was itself hacked Sunday night and 415 gigabyte of
internal data revealing secret dealings with Bayelsa state and other repressive governments, were leaked to the public.
Bayelsa government paid then N98m to carry out internet attacks. The contract is classed “intelligence” – the same class with contracts the firm unlawfully held with Russia and Sudan. The cost of Bayelsa government’s contract is equivalent to what Russia recently paid for maintenance of its Remote Control System ( RCS ) . And worth more than what Turkey, Columbia and Bahrain paid.
The firm is notorious for developing intrusive softwares for state clients who use them to hack citizen’s computers and smartphones. The firm claims its intrusion softwares – RCSs – are the most invasive and ruthless, with ability to compromise most operating systems, except iOS – but including jail-broken iOS.
Their RCSs are more dangerous than the WISE technology the Nigerian government bought from Israeli company, Elbit in 2013. Hacking Team specializes in software that had full capabilities to hack, compromise your gadget and silently steal stored data like SMS, WhatsApp messages, call records, and photos.
Galileo, one of the company’s most evil softwares, is able to secretly take snapshots and record your conversations. As at the time the software was acquired, governor Seriake Dickson was persecuting a citizen over critical Facebook comments. It was also in the run-up to the 2015 elections. During the period, PREMIUM TIMES and few other Nigerian news organizations critical of GEJ’s administration suffered several cyber attacks.
GEJ is from Bayelsa state. Hacking Team channeled the transaction through an Israeli company, NICE, and then V&V Nigeria. V&V is known to have close relationship with former Bayelsa state governor, Alamieyeseigha… Buhari is in trouble
