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 the 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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