According to cybersecurity company Kaspersky, in 2023 Africa continued to be one of the regions in the world most targeted by cybercrime.
At a recent press conference in Johannesburg, Kaspersky shared some insights and statistics related to the regional threat landscape in the third quarter of 2023 and made predictions about how the situation will evolve in 2024.
In the third quarter of 2023 (Q3), according to Kaspersky, attacks were detected on 32% of industrial control system (ICS) computers in Africa.
Kaspersky ICS CERT is an industrial systems security investigation and information security incident response center created by Kaspersky.
In South Africa, says the company, attacks were detected on 22% of machines. Globally, malicious objects were detected on 25% of ICS machines.
In the third quarter of 2023, South Africa is responsible for 28% of attacks on IoT devices that were detected by Kaspersky in the African region. Kenya is responsible for 12% of attacks on IoT devices, and Nigeria – for 6%.
As we forecast the development of the cyber threat landscape to 2024, we anticipate a dynamic evolution of cyber threats marked by an increase in state-sponsored cyber attacks, and “hacktivism” will become one of the norms of cyber warfare”, comments David Emm, principal investigator of Kaspersky cybersecurity.
“The prevalence of accessible generative AI is set to fuel an expansion of spear-phishing tactics, while creative exploitation of vulnerabilities in mobile and IoT devices will be on the rise. Today, companies must be proactive and combat these cyberthreats with advanced technologies, such as threat feeds, security information and event management systems, endpoint detection and response solutions, and tools with digital forensics and incident response capabilities. .”
