Yesterday it was reported that hackers had taken over the domain of Nigerian Entertainment today and were demanding a Ransom from the owners of the site before it would be released.
In response to that, the Publisher of the Magazine, Ayeni Adekunle, released a statement stating the stands of the outfit.
Greetings,
Yesterday, our primary domain www.thenetng.com was compromised by
internet hackers, who criminally gained access to our servers and illegally
took possession of our identity.
We are convinced this is a calculated
attack by detractors to unsettle and distract us, knowing our third anniversary
(April 26) is just around the corner, as well as our inaugural Nigerian
Entertainment Conference holding next Friday.
This incident occurred in the early
morning of Thursday April 18, and the hijackers immediately followed up with an
email, announcing their operation and demanding $1,200 ransom to reclaim our
property. They have since sent other emails, and made fresh requests, which we
are reviewing with our lawyers, registrars and IT team.
It is the first time since we
registered the domain in 2009, that such security breach would occur. And even
though we considered our readers, advertisers and partners, our management took
a firm decision not to engage with the criminals.
After careful considerations, we
decided yesterday, that we will not be negotiating with the hijackers, that we
will not bow to these cheap internet terrorists. And we will definitely not be
paying the requested ransom money ($900 as at their last email).
Not only would doing otherwise set a
wrong precedent for our growing industry, it would absolutely contradict
everything this newspaper stands for.
We decided instead, to work with our
registrar, our in –house IT team, and consultants to legitimately
reclaim our domain, while setting up a new destination – www.thenetng.net - as our home until
this is resolved. We are aware this may take some time, but it is a sacrifice
we are willing to make.
As you read this, all our other
domains, including .net, .info. .tv, .org, .com.ng are up and running,
with our full database and all feeds intact.
We thank our friends and partners,
especially media colleagues for the calls and support, as well as the many
readers here and abroad for their patience during this time.
Please enjoy our content on www.thenetng.net, and tell your friends of
our new but temporary home.
All those interested in registering
or finding out about the Nigerian
Entertainment Conference holding on Friday April 26, can email their
details to nec@thenetng.com.
Thanks for your time. Thanks for your
understanding.
Ayeni Adekunle
Publisher
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