A report by Kaspersky has revealed that Nigeria saw an overall decrease in all threats by 10% while banking malware attacks designed to collect online banking credentials and other sensitive information from infected machines increased by 8%.
This is part of experts discussion on the evolution of the cyber threat landscape in Africa during the 9th annual Cyber Security Weekend– META 2024, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where the focal point of the discussions was the security of emerging technology trends such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), that are influencing the scale of modern threats.
According to the experts, the number of overall cyber threats in South Africa decreased by 29% in 2023 as compared to 2022. At the same time, phishing attacks that use social engineering tactics to scam people into revealing sensitive information rose by 29%. Over the same period, Kenya saw a decrease in overall threats by 8% while an increase was seen in ransomware attacks by 68%, backdoors by 47%, exploits by 22% and phishing by 19%.
Meanwhile, Kaspersky’s analysis shows that online threats caused by vulnerabilities on web pages, in emails or in web services, have fluctuated significantly in the region.
“As the cybersecurity landscape evolves, cyber threats continue to become diverse and sophisticated. This trend is particularly evident due to the emergence of advanced technologies like AI and the escalating geopolitical and economic turbulence within the African region. These factors collectively contribute to the surge in cybercrime and the heightened complexity of cyberattacks,” comments Amin Hasbini, Director of META Research Center Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), Kaspersky.