South Africa, Kenya And Nigeria Report Highest Cyber Attacks In Africa

guest · Sep 25, 2020

South Africa, Kenya And Nigeria Have Seen Millions Of Cyber Attacks In 2020 Already
September 23, 2020
https://www.cio.co.ke/south-africa-...en-millions-of-cyber-attacks-in-2020-already/

Kaspersky security solutions have reported on 28 million malware attacks in 2020 and 102 million detections of potentially unwanted programs (pornware, adware etc.) they have accounted for by the beginning of August 2020. These numbers show that it’s not only the malware that attacks users but also the “grey zone” programs that grow in popularity and disturb their experiences, while users might not even know it is there.

For instance, adware fills user device with ads; aggressive monetising software propagates unrequested paid offers; downloaders may download even more various applications on the device, sometimes malicious ones.
While calculating interim results of threat landscape activity in African countries, the researchers noticed that PUAs attack users almost four times more often than traditional malware.
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“The reason why ‘grey zone’ software is growing in popularity is that it is harder to notice at first and that if the program is detected, its creators won’t be considered to be cybercriminals. The problem with them is that users are not always aware they consented to the installation of such programs on their device and that in some cases, such programs are exploited or used as a disguise for malware downloads. [...]” says Denis Parinov, a security researcher at Kaspersky.
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By taking a closer look at PUA, it becomes apparent that they are not only more widespread but also more potent than traditional malware. Evaluating results over the same 7-month period in Nigeria, there were 3,8 million malware attacks and 16,8 million PUA detections – which is four times as much.

Kenyan and South African threat landscapes have been more intense. In South Africa, there were almost 10 million malware attacks and a staggering 43 million PUA detections. Kenyan users faced even more malware attacks – around 14 million, and 41 million PUA appearances.
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guest · Jul 22, 2021

Kaspersky Report Parses African Cybercrime Trends
July 21, 2021
https://www.crowdfundinsider.com/2021/07/178155-kaspersky-report-parses-african-cybercrime-trends/

New data released this week by Kaspersky shows even Africa is not immune from cyber attacks.

While not considered a hotbed of financial opportunity, many African countries are seeing attacks at rates similar to the global average of one out of every 10 computers in 2020.

“Generally speaking, and based on our research, Africa has the same hit rate as we would see for other parts of the globe when it comes to cyberattacks and activity,” Kaspersky principal security researcher David Emm said.
In South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria the top malware families are ransomware, financial/banking trojans, and crypto-miner malware. Ransomware attacks in South Africa in the second quarter rose 24 per cent from Q1, while crypto-miner malware use was up 14 per cent. Kenyans and Nigerians saw respective increases of financial and banking trojans of 59 and 32 per cent in Q2.
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guest · Aug 19, 2021

Malware attacks in Africa are increasing, reaching 85 million in only 6 months
...with South Africa being the most targeted
August 19, 2021
https://kaspersky.africa-newsroom.c...-reaching-85-million-in-only-6-months?lang=en

Kaspersky (https://africa.Kaspersky.com) research highlights that malware is rife across Africa with various countries exhibiting strong growth in all malware types in the first half of 2021, when compared to the same period last year. This is a 5% increase in the region, as cybercriminals and hackers continue to focus on African countries considering digital transformation advancements and the increase in remote working resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, 4 countries account for 85 million attacks, with South Africa being the most targeted (32 million attacks), followed by Kenya (28.3 million), Nigeria (16.7 million) and Ethiopia (8 million). All countries but Kenya saw the relative growth of all malware attacks. Ethiopia and Nigeria have seen an increase of 20% and 23% respectively and South Africa an increase of 14%, while Kenya’s number of attacks decreased by 13%.
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longshots · Aug 20, 2021

Now, if Nigeria - the many times Gold Medal Winner in the Spam Olympics - had spent more time building a defence instead of concentrating on offence that result may have been a little different.

guest · Oct 27, 2021

Africa sees increase in ransomware, botnet attacks – but online scams still pose biggest threat
Fraud is still the primary goal of cybercriminals operating across the continent
October 27, 2021
https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/...ks-but-online-scams-still-pose-biggest-threat

Online scams are still the biggest cyber threat to African citizens, a new report has revealed, though ransomware attacks are “expanding rapidly” across the continent.

The study (PDF), published by Interpol yesterday (October 25), found that internet-enabled fraud was the biggest risk to African countries, which have reported a sharp increase in the number of online banking scams, including instances of banking and credit card fraud, in 2021.
Digital extortion – defined as “allegations of sexually compromising images or direct blackmail campaigns” – was the second highest recorded cyber threat.
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The number of African citizens who have access to the internet is estimated to be around 500 million, which is a huge figure in itself, though when compared to the overall population only equates to 38%.

Leading the way is Kenya with 83% of its population being online, Nigeria with 60%, and South Africa with 56%.
The report reads: “… the move towards a digital society – particularly within the African region – has created new attack vectors for criminals to both obfuscate their identity and target new victims.”
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Ransomware is the fourth most prevalent cyber-attack identified in the report, which states that more than 61% of companies in the region were affected by ransomware in 2020 alone.

“These attacks targeted some African countries’ critical infrastructure, including healthcare and maritime sectors,” it reads.
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Interpol claims in the report that 90% of African businesses are operating “without the necessary cybersecurity protocols in place”.
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Interpol: INTERPOL report identifies top cyberthreats in Africa

A new report published by INTERPOL gives key insights into cybercrime in Africa. The result of cross-sector collaboration, the African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2021 will help countries in Africa to understand the most prevalent threats and formulate a coordinated regional response to cybercrime.
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guest · Sep 5, 2022

SGF Urges Need To Curb Data Breaches In Nigeria
By Jacob Segun Olatunji - September 3, 2022

The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, has urged the need to curb the menace of data breaches in the country.

The SGF expressed his delight at the visit of the National Commissioner and reinforced the need for the establishment of the Bureau in line with global best practices.
He noted that Nigeria is fast becoming a data-driven society hence, the need to curb the menace of data breaches.
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According to him,

“Data theft is one of the most thriving businesses in the world. Everywhere you go, every country is putting measures in place so that data of its citizens are protected because accessibility to people’s data, unauthorised ones, would invariably allow anybody doing that to take absolute control over the people’s lives, from their financial transactions to their health records, to their access to certain information which can be manipulated.”
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Speaking earlier, the National Commissioner/CEO of NDPB, Vincent O. Olatunji, said that the purpose of the visit was to acquaint the SGF with the activities of the Bureau and to seek collaboration with his office toward the implementation of a robust data protection regulation in Nigeria.

He further said that the Bureau is ready to build the capacity of public servants in data protection with the aim of creating awareness of the provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Regulation (NDPR).
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