With digital transformation high on the corporate agenda, as companies identify new ways to grow their businesses, opportunistic cybercriminals remain very active.
While Africa is not necessarily considered a focus area for more sophisticated types of cybercriminal activity, such as targeted attacks or advanced persistent threats (APTs), the continent is certainly not immune to these or other types of cyber risks, warn researchers at Kaspersky.
Looking at the big picture of cyber threats as they affect consumers and businesses, Kaspersky's research shows that in 2020, worldwide, approximately 10% of computers suffered at least one malware attack.
Interestingly, in some African countries, including South Africa, the number was only slightly below the global average of 10%, making the African region comparable to North America or Europe in terms of cyber attacks.
In some parts of the continent, in countries like Liberia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, for example, Kaspersky had a slightly higher rate, while other parts show a lower rate – an average of 5% or 6%.
For the first quarter of 2021, the figures are only slightly less than 10%, both in relative and absolute terms. In South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, Kaspersky's research identified the top malware families as ransomware, financial/banking Trojans, and malware crypto-miner.
In Kenya and Nigeria, Kaspersky saw a large increase in financial/banking Trojans in Q2021 2021 compared to Q59 32 – an increase of XNUMX% in Kenya and XNUMX% in Nigeria.
The financial services sector remains one of the top market segments in Africa when it comes to cyber criminal activity and cyber threats – which is not surprising when considering the digital approach this sector continues to adopt, driven by needs and expectations of your customers.
