Nigeria faces the second-highest number of cyberattacks in Africa according to a report by Kaspersky.

Nigeria, which ranked 50th globally for online threats, was only behind Kenya which was ranked 35th globally. South Africa completed the top three, ranking 82nd globally.

According to Kaspersky Security Network, these countries were increasingly becoming focal points for cyber threats.

Expanding on the report, the Head of the Global Research & Analysis Team (GReAT) for META at Kaspersky, Dr Amin Hasbini, stated that businesses needed to be cautious of two primary forms of cyber-attacks.

Hasbini said, “Criminal attacks are mainly driven by the pursuit of financial profit, whereas advanced attacks indicate 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.”

The report further disclosed that in the first quarter of 2023, backdoor and spyware attacks were the most common threat types in South Africa, amassing to 106,000 attack attempts. In Nigeria, it totaled 46,000 and 143,000 in Kenya.

Kaspersky noted that there was a growing surge of zombie machines — a connected device that became part of a botnet.

Hasbini added, “Threats to critical infrastructure, financial institutions, government entities, and service providers have predominated the cyber threat landscape over the past year. We have witnessed different threat actors target various businesses across industries.

“Businesses should consider leveraging advanced technologies such as threat feeds, security information and event management systems, endpoint detection and response solutions, and tools with digital forensics and incident response features. It is vital to understand that cyber security measures are an ongoing endeavour – and that there is no universal solution to secure a corporate network or data.”