by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – NIGERIA, South Africa and Kenya have increasingly become focal points for cyber threats as they feature in the top 100 countries most targeted.
Nigeria is ranked 50th, South Africa 82nd and Kenya 35th.
This is as per the latest data from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN).
Dr Amin Hasbini, Head of the Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT) for Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) at Kaspersky, said criminal attacks were mainly driven by the pursuit of financial profit, whereas advanced attacks indicated how cyber threat actors continually adapt their tactics and tools to breach security measures.
“A significant portion of the attacks witnessed across Africa are shaped by the rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. However, a growing concern is that cybercriminals are learning from successful advanced attacks to refine their craft,” Hasbini said.
In the first quarter of 2023, Kaspersky reported backdoor and spyware attacks as the most common threat types in South Africa, amassing 106 000 attack attempts.
Similar attacks were observed in Nigeria, totalling 46 000, while the same type of attacks peaked at 143 000 in Kenya.
However, in Kenya, exploits emerged as the most dominant form of attack with 177 000 incidents blocked.
Kaspersky also highlighted the growing surge of zombie machines – a connected device that becomes part of a botnet.
Examples include legacy, old and forgotten devices, IoT devices, network equipment, printers, cameras, even coffee machines.
In the year to date, some 1,6 million zombie machines have been detected in South Africa and 300 000 in Kenya.
Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are the biggest economies in their blocs.
– CAJ News