Twenty individuals have been apprehended by the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force in connection with the hacking of the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) computer-based test (CBT).
These arrests are part of an ongoing investigation into a larger syndicate, believed to comprise over 100 individuals, specializing in cyberattacks on examination bodies such as the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Examinations Council (NECO).
Security sources indicate that the suspects have confessed to deliberately sabotaging the CBT system. Their goal was to discredit JAMB and deter students from utilizing CBT for future examinations administered by NECO and the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
One suspect reportedly confessed that the syndicate would “install an attacking software on the examination body hardware. The software, in turn, would remotely hack JAMB servers at any targeted CBT centre.” This sophisticated hacking operation aimed to inflate scores for specific candidates who paid between N700,000 and N2 million for the illicit service.
Preliminary investigations have also revealed that several members of this syndicate own private schools and colleges, operating “special centres” from which they generated substantial illegal profits.