There are a lot of advantages associated with the use of social media especially in the area of publicity and so on. However, just like every other phenomenon, it also comes with its own disadvantages such as hacking. Hacking refers to when someone illegally gains access to another person?s account without their consent. Most times, these hackers use this as a means to impersonate, make self-publication, or just for fun to make the world know what they are capable of doing such.
Whatever the case maybe, this ugly incident eventually befell Nigeria?s super eagle?s Instagram account just some hours before the draws for the Qatar 2022 FIFA world cup qualifiers came out. And ever since then, there?s been plenty of rumours as to what really happened, who is responsible, was it just a hacking attempt, or as a result of sheer negligence from the Super Eagle?s Instagram account managers? These and many more we will get to find out.
What really happened
Reports coming in on the 21st of January 2020, as of 9pm (GMT+1) made it clear that the official Nigeria Super Eagles Instagram account which has about 230k followers was hacked. The report made it clear that the account was no longer under the control of the designated account managers, rather, is being operated by a hacker who attacked and hacked the page, few hours before the qualifiers draw was released.
Effect of The Hack
As soon as the hacker got hold of the account, the first thing he/she did was to get rid of every Nigerian content that were published on the page. Currently, not even a single photo of Nigeria?s sports or the Super Eagles is found on the page. And this is really not a good news for the online board of directors under Super Eagles, who have fought tooth and nail over the years, to always ensure that the page is constantly updated and kept active.
Who is the hacker?
Even though the exact identity of the hacker hasn’t yet been known, from all indications, the hacker is from Istanbul, Turkey. This is because the page is now filled up with photos from a yet to be disclosed stylist, and influencer who is currently living in Istanbul, Turkey. Either it?s, or she has an idea of who the hacker is.
Reactions
As you’d expect, there has been a lot of rants on the social media on the incident by concerned Nigerians on Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp and so on. And as a Nigerian, I believe you know exactly how Nigerians are good at serving the authorities a fair taste of their own their medicine, whenever an appalling incident like this happens. On the side of the authorities, the NFA (Nigeria Football Federation) is yet to make any public statement concerning the hacked Instagram account, or what actions they are planning to take.
This is the reason why when the draws for the 2022 Qatar FIFA world Cup qualifiers draws were out yesterday, the Super Eagle?s team could only publish it on Twitter and Facebook, and not Instagram. The qualifiers matches will begin in October 2020.
