Africa Remains Riddled With Malware; Kaspersky Data Suggests

Africa Remains Riddled With Malware; Kaspersky Data Suggests

The data, which has documented the state of cybersecurity across the African continent, has highlighted how various African nations exhibited strong growth in all types of malware during the first half of 2021, when compared to the same period last year. This records 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 targetted (32 million attacks), followed by Kenya (28.3 million), Nigeria (16.7 million), and Ethiopia (8 million). Aside from Kenya, whose number of attacks decreased by 13%, all countries experienced relative growth of malware attacks. Ethiopia and Nigeria have seen an increase of 20% and 23% respectively, whilst South Africa encountered an increase of 14%. “Even though the scourge of malware has always been of concern, the past 12-months have highlighted how hackers are refocusing their efforts to compromise consumer and corporate systems and gain access to critical data and information. “Given the growth of digital transformation across Africa since last year, the continent has become an attractive target for those looking to