SSS Leaked Staff Details Still Online

Two weeks after a list containing the private data
of 60 serving and former State Security Service
agents found its way to the Internet, the names,
addresses and next-of-kin of the operatives are yet
to be completely removed from the web.
The list was left in the comments section of the
website of a Nigerian online news medium on
August 12. The list also contains the addresses,
professions, phone numbers, dates of birth and
other details of the agents and their wives, children
and other family members.
The PUNCH’s findings on Sunday showed that the
original story that attracted the comment had been
deleted and the comment removed. A search on the
news website where the list was originally posted
returned a message that said, “Page not available.
The requested URL was not found on this server.”
However, when The PUNCH ran a check on the
Internet using two of the names of the
compromised agents as keywords, the list of the
agents, and their contact details, were found in the
cache of the news website.
In an article for the online resource site, About.com,
an expert-writer, Paul Gil, defines a cache as a
“specialised form of computer memory.”
According to him, “Cache holds copies of recently
accessed data such as a web page and pictures on
web pages. It keeps this data ready to “swap” onto
your screen within fractions of a second. So,
instead of requiring your computer to go to the
original web page and photos in Denmark (for
example), the cache simply offers you the latest
copy from your own hard drive.”
The list, which The PUNCH sighted again on
Sunday, also have the name of a high-ranking SSS
official on it as reported last week.
The newspaper has, however, decided not to make
public the list, the names of the website, the agents
and their family members in order not to further
endanger the lives of the compromised agents and
their loved ones.
Meanwhile, there were strong indications on
Sunday that the State Security Service had traced
the leakage of data to the Pension Office, a
parastatal under The Presidency.
Sources in the SSS in Abuja told The PUNCH on
Sunday that the leakage was traced to some
officials of the pension office.
They said the leadership of the service had
issued a directive to its operatives to ensure that
those behind the breach were fished out.
One of the sources said, “The SSS has already
traced the data leakage to the Pension Office which
recently carried out a pension exercise for
personnel of the agency.
“The SSS will not rest until the perpetrators were
arrested because the leakage exposes us to danger
and could undermine our capability.”
It was learnt that about a year ago, officers of the
Pension Office were dispatched to all offices of the
SSS across the country to update the records of
operatives for pension payments.
Findings revealed that the information sought
during the exercise included the next-of- kin of the
operatives, and other vital personal information
such as their academic qualifications, dates of birth,
permanent home addresses, telephone numbers,
bank account details and so on.
A source said although the SSS operatives were not
inclined to releasing such sensitive information,
they provided them because they were told that it
(exercise) was a presidential directive that must be
obeyed.
Those in crisis-ridden areas are said to be
demoralised as the exposure portends danger to
their careers, lives and families.
It was gathered that the leadership of the SSS
leadership had taken up the challenge to ensure
that the source of the leakage was traced.
However, the Pension Reform Task Team has
denied that the leakage of the operatives’ data
emanated from it.
The spokesperson for the PRTT, Mr. Hassan
Salihu, told The PUNCH on Sunday night that the
Department of Security Services, has its own
pensions department.
He said, “We do not know anything about the
leakage. The DSS office is in charge of its pension
office and we don’t know anything about that. I
repeat, we do not know anything about that
leakage.”
The SSS Deputy Director, Media and Public
Relations, Marilyn Ogar, had last Thursday denied
the data leakage, describing the AP report as false.
Ogar said, “The report is false because the AP
reporter that filed the story failed to give me the
link to the website that allegedly published the
personal data of our personnel.
“How come it was only the AP reporter that saw the
website? Besides, he had published his story before
calling me for reactions. That is what he did the
other time when he published a false report that
government planned to build a special prison for
Boko Haram suspects in Lagos; I don’t know where
he gets these unsubstantiated stories that he
publishes.”
Contrary to Ms. Ogar’s claim, however, The
PUNCH can confirm that the list is genuine and the
website real.

Culled from The Punch.