Nigerian Army X account targeted in suspected cyberattack, memecoin posts appear

The Nigerian Army has reported an attempted unauthorised access to its official X account, with memecoin-related posts appearing on the platform before the incident was identified.

The development marks the second reported cyber incident involving a Nigerian military social media account in about two weeks.

The Army’s X account began publishing memecoin-related updates at about 3:50 p.m. on Saturday, prompting the military to flag the development as a cybersecurity incident.

The Director of Army Public Relations, Anele, said the Army had detected the attempted breach and was actively working to secure the account.

“The Nigerian Army has detected and is actively responding to an attempted unauthorised access to its official X (formerly Twitter) account,” she said.

According to her, immediate technical and protective measures had been activated to prevent further unauthorised access and safeguard the integrity of information shared through the platform.

“The Nigerian Army assures members of the public, the media and other stakeholders that appropriate measures are underway to fully secure the affected account and restore exclusive administrative control,” she added.

The Army urged the public to disregard any “suspicious, unauthorised, misleading or unverified content” published from the affected account.

It also advised members of the public and media organisations to verify information through its other official communication channels until the situation is fully resolved.

It was not immediately clear whether the Army had regained complete control of the account, as the last visible post on the page was published before the reported incident.

The latest development comes about two weeks after the Defence Headquarters disclosed that its official X account had been compromised in a cyberattack.

In a statement issued on August 15, the Director of Defence Information, Samaila Uba, said the DHQ had taken appropriate technical measures to secure the account and prevent further unauthorised access.

The latest incident has raised renewed concerns about the cybersecurity of official military communication platforms, which are increasingly relied upon to provide the public with security-related information