Angola was the only country in Africa where malware attacks increased in 2021, with a growth of 12%, reveals the most recent report by Kaspersky's Mobile Threats.
According to what the investigation reveals, the growth of cyber attacks in our country is contrary to a dynamic reflecting the global trend, since cybercriminals tend to invest less and less in threats mainstream that are successfully neutralized by modern security solutions.
While Angola has been a new attack habit for hackers, Kaspersky Report 2021 reports that the remaining countries in Africa have seen a drop in the number of hacker attacks over the last year, with Mozambique having a 48% drop, Botswana (58%), Nigeria (59%), Ethiopia (69%) and Ghana (76%).
For Kaspersky experts, who were analyzing the threat landscape of African countries in 2021, they noticed that there has been a steady decline in mobile malware attacks in Africa, except in Angola, where cybercriminals have consolidated their efforts to focus on more complicated threats. , dangerous and profitable.
BUT: Cyberattack leaves several Mozambican Internet portals inoperable
Also noteworthy, according to global figures for 2021, South African users faced 38% fewer mobile malware attacks than in 2020, while other countries in southern Africa saw even more dramatic changes in their mobile threat landscape.
The cybersecurity company's investigation also showed that hackers are investing more in new mobile malware that has become increasingly complex, presenting new ways to steal users' banking credentials, as well as other aspects of personal data. For example, in 2021 Kaspersky detected more than 95.000 new mobile banking Trojans worldwide, but the number of attacks using this malware has remained similar.
To protect yourself from mobile threats, in the same report Kaspersky shares the following recommendations:
- It is safer to download apps only from official stores like Apple Store, Google Play or Amazon Appstore. Although the applications in these stores are not 100% safe, but at least they are verified by the representatives of the stores and there is some filtering system, that is, not all applications can enter these stores.
- Check the permissions of apps you use and think carefully before giving an app permission, especially when it comes to high-risk permissions like accessibility services. For example, the only permission you should give a flashlight app should be the flashlight itself, not other permissions.
