By Epiphanus Obia
A potential cyberattack targeting Ikeja Electric is drawing attention from cybersecurity researchers, after threat actors claimed to have breached the company’s internal systems.
Cyber threat intelligence platform Hackmanac flagged the incident on Tuesday, citing claims by a group known as ByteToBreach. The group alleges that it deployed ransomware across more than 50 systems, disrupted internal infrastructure, and exfiltrated sensitive data, including customer records, employee information, and business databases.
According to the claims, the attackers also accessed source code and compromised the company’s Active Directory environment, potentially exposing internal credentials.
A separate analysis by VECERT described the incident as a “critical security alert”, alleging that the breach extended to virtualisation infrastructure and affected metering and billing systems linked to multiple vendors. The group further claimed that backup systems may have been compromised, which could complicate recovery efforts.
The threat actor is also said to have published details of the alleged breach on a dark web forum, outlining what it described as a multi-stage attack involving server access, lateral movement across networks, and data extraction.
However, the claims remain unverified.
Ikeja Electric has not issued an official statement confirming or denying the incident as of the time of publishing this report. A company spokesperson, Kingsley Okotie, previously indicated they were not aware of the alleged breach and would respond if necessary. There are also no confirmed reports of power outages or service disruptions linked to a cyberattack.
If confirmed, the implications could extend beyond internal systems. Power distribution companies rely heavily on digital platforms for billing, prepaid metering, and customer management. A compromise of these systems could lead to billing irregularities, disruptions in metering data, and increased disputes with customers.
There are also potential security risks tied to identity systems. If internal access controls were breached, attackers could retain a foothold within networks even after initial containment, complicating recovery efforts.
While electricity supply itself may not be immediately affected, incidents like this highlight the growing exposure of Nigeria’s critical infrastructure to cyber threats, particularly as utilities become more digitised.