Kaspersky just unveiled a bleak picture of African cyber security. According to statistics Kaspersky released yesterday on the cyberthreat landscape for Africa, cyber-attacks are becoming more sophisticated and diverse as the cyber security ecosystem develops.
The company claims that the rise of AI and the growing political and economic unrest in the Middle East are the main causes of this trend’s visibility.
Kaspersky Just Unveiled a Bleak Picture of African Cyber Security
According to Kaspersky’s telemetry, phishing attacks that employ social engineering techniques to trick victims into disclosing personal information rose by 29% in the African region.
In contrast, there were 29% fewer cyberthreats in South Africa overall in 2023 compared to 2022. Kenya saw a spike in ransomware attacks of 68%, backdoor usage of 47%, and phishing of 19% over that same period. Overall, threats increased by 8%.
Kaspersky Experts Highlighted Risks Aimed at Industrial Control Systems
While banking malware attacks which are intended to obtain sensitive data from compromised PCs, including online banking credentials rose by 8% in Nigeria, overall threats decreased by 10%.
Industrial computer cyberattacks are regarded as exceedingly risky since they have the potential to result in material losses, production halts for the regulated manufacturing line, and possibly damage to the entire facility. In addition, shuttered industrial facilities have the potential to negatively impact macroeconomics, ecological, and social welfare in an area.
Experts from Kaspersky highlighted risks aimed at industrial control systems in key infrastructure.
“Sophisticated attacks have increased the demand for better visibility of the cyber-risks that impact industrial control systems. The integration of IT and OT systems has highlighted the need for a comprehensive yet purposely built cybersecurity program. Digital transformation programs require a new approach to ensure the secure deployment and operation of a variety of new, potentially unsafe devices within plant boundaries. Given this new reality, the Industrial Cybersecurity Maturity Modeling approach might be used to define clear industrial cybersecurity targets and to measure how these targets are met,” said Emad Haffar, Head of Technical Experts at Kaspersky.
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