Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has demonstrated exceptional performance at the ECOWAS Cybersecurity Hackathon 2024 by emerging as a top contender in the competition.
The service secured an impressive 1,100 points, displaying notable expertise in cryptography, steganography, reverse engineering, web exploitation and binary analysis.
In a statement by the service spokesman, Abdullahi Maiwada, CSC Abubakar Mustapha Jauro led the NCS team competing against 340 teams from ECOWAS member states.
He noted that the event was organised by ECOWAS in partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), saying that it brought together cybersecurity professionals across West Africa.
According to him, despite using lower-spec hardware, such as Intel Core i5 processors with 8GB RAM, the NCS teams excelled with tools like Kali Linux, Burp Suite, and Metasploit. Maiwada added that their success underscores the need for better resources to further enhance their technical capabilities.
Also, the Deputy Comptroller General, ICT/Modernisation, Kikelomo Adeola, noted that the event was held in two phases, noting that the competition aimed to identify the top cybersecurity teams in the region.
She explained: “In Phase 1, participants engaged in an online Capture the Flag (CTF) competition via the Sec-Dojo platform, with labs released from August 6 to August 31, 2024.
“Phase 2, scheduled for October 14- 16, 2024, will take place in Abuja, Nigeria, featuring an in-person CTF competition designed to foster cross-border collaboration and assess advanced cybersecurity skills.