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ABUJA, FCT — By Prime Brief Media

The Corporate Affairs Commission, the statutory custodian of Nigeria's corporate registry, has confirmed a significant cybersecurity breach that has compromised its digital infrastructure and forced the temporary shutdown of its online registration portal for three days.

In a public notice issued on Friday, April 17, the Commission announced that the portal would be offline from 12:00 midnight on April 17 until 6:00 a.m. on Monday, April 20, 2026. While the Commission initially described the downtime as "scheduled maintenance," it later confirmed that the action was necessitated by a confirmed cyberattack involving unauthorised access to parts of its information systems.

According to the CAC, the cyberattack impacted millions of data points linked to businesses registered in Nigeria. The Commission described the incident as "unfortunate" and confirmed that containment measures were immediately activated to prevent further unauthorised access to sensitive corporate records.

The breach has raised fresh concerns over the safety of corporate data in Nigeria and triggered a coordinated response from multiple regulatory and security agencies. The Nigeria Data Protection Commission has launched a formal investigation into the data breach pursuant to Section 46(3) of the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023. In a statement issued by its Head of Legal, Enforcement and Regulations, Babatunde Bamigboye, the NDPC expressed concern that "threat actors in the digital space have devised malicious methods of compromising the data security architecture of key databases," including "large-scale data exfiltration and cross-platform compromise across interconnected systems".

Dr. Vincent Olatunji, National Commissioner and Chief Executive Officer of the NDPC, confirmed that the investigation would cover access control mechanisms, data privacy impact assessments, vulnerability assessment and penetration testing, as well as due diligence on third-party data processors. The NDPC also issued a broader regulatory advisory warning that "shadowy threat actors" have engaged in coordinated operations targeting financial systems and key digital infrastructure in Nigeria.

Simultaneously, the National Information Technology Development Agency has activated coordinated cybersecurity measures with the CAC. In a statement issued by NITDA's Director of Corporate Communications and Media Relations, Hadiza Umar, the agency directed all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies to immediately review and reinforce their cybersecurity architecture in compliance with the National Cybersecurity Policy and Strategy 2021.

The shutdown has disrupted critical services for entrepreneurs, legal practitioners, and businesses across the country. Services including company registration, name reservations, annual returns filing, and directorship updates have been suspended for the duration of the outage. The Commission processes up to 10,000 business registration requests daily following the deployment of artificial intelligence across its platforms last year, and the outage is expected to create a significant backlog of pending transactions.

The Registrar-General of the CAC, Hussaini Ishaq Magaji, advised users to take precautionary steps once services resume, including reviewing company records, updating passwords, and remaining alert to potential phishing attempts or scam messages that may exploit the situation.

The CAC cyberattack is the latest in a series of cybersecurity incidents targeting government platforms and financial institutions in Nigeria. In recent weeks, Remita Payment Services Limited and Sterling Bank have also faced reported cyber threats, reflecting growing pressure on Nigeria's digital infrastructure.

Prime Brief Media continues to monitor this developing story and will provide updates as more information becomes available regarding the full scope of the data breach and the outcome of the joint NDPC-NITDA investigation. Business owners planning urgent registrations or filings have been advised to postpone such activities until the portal is fully restored on Monday morning.