IBY
Peterside Rejoice EnekyNo fewer than 20 suspects have been apprehended by the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Police Force in connection with a sophisticated hacking scheme targeting the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The suspects, part of a syndicate comprising over 100 individuals, are accused of infiltrating the computer servers of key national examination bodies including JAMB and the National Examinations Council (NECO), according to security sources.
Sources within the security agencies revealed that the suspects had developed malicious software capable of remotely breaching JAMB’s servers. The software, once installed on network hardware near Computer-Based Test (CBT) centres, granted the hackers unauthorized access during live examination sessions.
“The syndicate installed routers within the vicinity of CBT centres which hijacked JAMB’s system, allowing ‘special candidates’ who paid between N700,000 and N2 million to receive automated answers during the exam,” the source said.
Further investigations revealed that the hacking attempts were part of a deliberate strategy to discredit the CBT system and deter its adoption by other examination bodies like WAEC and NECO. Disturbingly, several of the suspects reportedly own private schools and operate illegal “special centres” for exam malpractice.
The breach caused significant technical disruptions, leading to discrepancies between questions and answers submitted by candidates. This may have contributed to the widespread failure reported in the recent UTME results.
Security officials confirmed that surveillance and intelligence-gathering efforts had been ongoing for months. The coordinated raids across multiple states including Lagos, Edo, Anambra, Kano, and Delta led to the arrest of the key suspects.
“As of Friday evening, no complicity has been established against the seven JAMB officials supervising the affected centres,” a source said, noting that investigations are still ongoing.
The DSS has vowed to prosecute all individuals involved and warned against any attempts to compromise national examination integrity in the future.
More updates will follow as the suspects are expected to be arraigned in court in the coming days.
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