E-Business
Dictators in Africa Using Social Media to Cling to Power
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni is suspected of using fake social media accounts to consolidate his power.
He wouldn’t be the only one in Africa. Is social media becoming a threat to democracy on the continent?
In early 2021, Facebook (Meta) deactivated more than 20 accounts linked to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) party. Shortly afterward, Twitter also followed suit, closing 11% of the nearly 3,500 accounts worldwide that allegedly spread pro-government propaganda.
Thus in total, almost 440 Ugandan social media accounts close to the Ugandan government have been blocked by social media networks in the East African country to date.
Both Twitter and Facebook accuse the Ugandan government of using social media as a tool politicians to manipulate public opinion, spread disinformation, and intimidate the opposition. Facebook also stated that as part of its strategy, the Ministry of Information had been using “fake and duplicate accounts” for propaganda purposes.
A new favorite tool used by autocratic leaders
When Facebook took action, President Museveni’s press secretary, Don Wanyama, whose Facebook and Instagram accounts were also suspended, accused Facebook of trying to influence the 2021 election in Uganda:
“Shame on the foreign powers who think they can impose a puppet government on Uganda by disabling the online accounts of NRM supporters,” Wanyama wrote on Twitter at the time. Twitter said in a statement, however, that “(i)n most cases, the accounts were suspended for various violations of our platform manipulation and spam policies.”
According to analysis by the Oxford Internet Institute, the spread of misinformation driven by political organizations on social media has been sharply on the rise in recent years. The report states that in 2017, disinformation campaigns were carried out in 28 countries. Three years later, that figure had risen to 81 countries.
“The spread of fake news is a real problem,” said Ugandan human rights activist Nicholas Opiyo in a DW interview. “This method is gaining ground in countries whose leaders are desperately struggling to maintain their image and reputation on social media.”
According to Opiyo, this involves using bots and trolls, computer programs, and paid users who use fake accounts to flood social media with posts favorable to the government.
Bans across Africa
In Tanzania, Uganda’s neighbor, Twitter took similar action, removing 268 accounts for spreading “malicious reports” directed at members and supporters of the Tanzanian human rights organization Fichua Tanzania and its founder.
Meanwhile, similar reports are also surfacing from west Africa: In Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari “criticized the activists of the #EndSARS movement in June and called for action to be taken against them. However, Twitter deleted this call, and in reponse, Buhari’s government banned Nigerians from accessing the micro-blogging site,” Franziska Ulm-Düsterhöft, Africa expert at Amnesty International in Germany, told DW.
The #EndSARS movement was initated by social media-savvy young Nigerians, who sought to put pressure on the government to abolish Nigeria’s controversial Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit. The campaign also called for better overall governance in West Africa’s largest democracy.
Social media restrictions: ‘overreaction’ by elites
Back in Uganda, the government in the capital Kampala has also been trying to make it harder for Ugandans to get independent information online by imposing taxes on mobile data. The government also doesn’t shy away from temporarily shutting down social media alrogether, as was witnessed during the run-up to the presidential election a year ago.
At the time, Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa initially justified the move by saying that Facebook and Twitter had shut down government accounts, making the social media blackout sound like a retaliatory measure. However, after the January 16 election, Kutesa said the shut-down had been “a necessary step to stop the biting language and incitement to violence.”
Angelo Izama, a political consultant and journalist from Uganda, describes the move rather as an “overreaction” rooted in deeply-held patriarchal beliefs. Izama says that “(t)he political leadership, especially here in sub-Saharan Africa, comes from a generation where society was structured so that the child would not contradict the father.”
“If it did, it was punished. And that’s the relationship between the state and the citizen,” Izama told DW.
But he says that society is changing, he says, leaving such political elites in the dust. Young people in particular, he highlights, are now able with the help of the internet to react immediately to laws and bans, and make their opinions known about the performance of the government or of private institutions.
Surveillance via social media
In 2021, social media shutdowns also took place in Burkina Faso, South Sudan, Senegal, Congo, Zambia, Chad, Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Sudan. Again, the reasons were mainly political, with protests, elections and political unrest resulting in information shutdowns across the continent, with no end in sight:
“It will take a while for those in power to understand that young people today expect them to sit down and talk to them,” political consultant Angelo Izama said. “It will also take time for those in power to stop using surveillance and monitoring as a means to counter criticism.”
Meanwhile, some governments are even going further and targeting their citizens directly by exploiting their internet affinity: “Spy software is being bought by governments and installed specifically on smartphones,” Amnesty expert Ulm-Düsterhöft told DW. “We documented this last year for Togo and Rwanda, for example. First, apps are downloaded via email attachments, then the software instals itself and accesses microphones, cameras, and social media.”
Ulm-Düsterhöft warns users not to download any unknown apps, take a close look at dubious social media accounts, and contact the app operators if in doubt.
Risks and opportunities
According to a report published by the South African Institute of International Affairs, shutting down the internet and arresting government critics voicing their views on social media channels are signs that several governments in sub-Saharan Africa are becoming increasingly autocratic.
In Uganda, author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija posted comments that were critical of the government on social media, which led to his detention, during which he allegedly was tortured by security agents.
Human rights activist Opiyo says that with reports like these, it is becoming clear that the earlier view of social media as “a liberating force for democracy” is disappearing: “(N)ow we see the dangers associated with it, and how social media can be used to undermine democratic processes. Social media is becoming another tool of oppression.”
Opiyo believes that this is why social media regulations are becoming necessary. But he also calls for users to act responsibly and remember that not everything found on social media is true.
A new report by Sophos, ybersecurity firm, has said that attackers primarily gained initial network access—56 per cent of all MDR and IR cases—by exploiting external remote services like firewalls and VPNs using valid credentials.
The 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report details attacker behavior and techniques from over 400 Managed Detection and Response [MDR] and Incident Response [IR] cases in 2024.
According to the report, the combination of external remote services and valid accounts align with the top root causes of attacks.
For the second year in row, compromised credentials were the number one root cause of attacks [41% of cases]. This was followed by exploited vulnerabilities [21.79%] and brute force attacks [21.07%].
When analysing MDR and IR investigations, the Sophos X-Ops team looked specifically at ransomware, data exfiltration, and data extortion cases to identify how fast attackers progressed through the stages of an attack within an organisation.
In those three types of cases, the median time between the start of an attack and exfiltration was only 72.98 hours [3.04 days]. Furthermore, there was only a median of 2.7 hours from exfiltration to attack detection.
“Passive security is no longer enough. While prevention is essential, rapid response is critical. Organisations must actively monitor networks and act swiftly against observed telemetry.
Coordinated attacks by motivated adversaries require a coordinated defense. “For many organisations, that means combining business-specific knowledge with expert-led detection and response.
Our report confirms that organizations with proactive monitoring detect attacks faster and experience better outcomes,” said John Shier, field CISO.
The 2025 Sophos Active Adversary Report further reveals that attackers can move quickly, with a median of just 11 hours between initial access and a breach attempt on Active Directory, a critical asset in Windows environments.
Akira emerged as the most prevalent ransomware group in 2024, followed by Fog and LockBit, the latter still active despite a major takedown.
Attack detection has improved overall, with dwell time—the time attackers remain undetected—dropping from four days to just two, thanks largely to the inclusion of MDR (Managed Detection and Response) cases.
Dwell time varied depending on the type of case: it held steady at 4 days for ransomware and 11.5 days for non-ransomware cases in incident response (IR) investigations.
In contrast, MDR cases showed much faster response times—3 days for ransomware and just 1 day for non-ransom – ware attacks.
The report also highlights that 83% of ransomware deployments occurred outside local business hours, showing attackers favor overnight activity.
Additionally, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) was exploited in 84% of cases, making it the most commonly abused Microsoft tool.
To strengthen their cybersecurity posture, Sophos advises organizations to take several key steps.
First, they should close any exposed Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) ports and implement phishing-resistant multifactor authentication (MFA) wherever feasible to reduce unauthorized access risks.
Additionally, companies should prioritize timely patching of vulnerable systems, especially those exposed to the internet. Deploying Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) or Managed Detection and Response (MDR) solutions with 24/7 monitoring is crucial.
Finally, having a well-defined incident response plan—and regularly testing it through simulations or tabletop exercises—can greatly improve preparedness for potential attacks.
E-Business
Kaspersky Presents Insight on 14% Increase in Spyware Attacks on Businesses in Africa @ GITEX Africa
As part of the company’s participation at the GITEX Africa conference, taking place in Morocco on 14-16 April 2025, Kaspersky will address the dynamics for cyberthreats in the African region as per the latest anonymised data from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN)¹.
From 2023 to 2024 businesses in Africa were targeted by web threats, on-device threats, and attacks aiming to steal data, including spyware and password stealers.
Phishing and ransomware continue to be significant threats in the region, with 66 million phishing link clicks seen by Kaspersky in the African region in 2024, including over 14.8 million phishing link clicks by corporate users.
Web-based threats, or online threats, are a category of cybersecurity risks that may cause an undesirable event or action affecting users browsing the Internet.
According to Kaspersky data, there were 131 580 587 web threats detected in 2024 in the African region, including almost 20 million attack attempts in Kenya, almost 17 million in South Africa, and 12.6 million in Morocco. Businesses were targeted by web threats more often in 2024 than in 2023, with threat detections increasing by 1.2%.
Local (on device) threats include malware that is spread via removable USB drives, CDs and DVDs, or that initially makes way onto the computer in non-open form (for example, programs in complex installers, encrypted files, etc.).
According to Kaspersky telemetry, local (on device) threat detections in organisations in the African region in 2024 increased by 4% compared to 2023. Among the countries that saw growth in local threats detected in organisations were Nigeria (169% increase), Ethiopia (86%), South Africa (32%), Senegal (11%), and Morocco (9%).
There has been a spike of threats related to data theft. According to Kaspersky data, there was a 14% growth in spyware attack detections on businesses in the African region from 2023 to 2024.
Spyware is secretly installed on a user’s computer to monitor their actions and collect their data. Apart from that, there has been a 26% increase in password stealer detections. Password stealers are a type of malware designed to harvest login credentials and other sensitive data.
“Our statistics show an increase in attack detections for several types of cyberthreats, and the factors driving these increases are multifaceted. In the B2B sector, the continuing shift toward hybrid work models and the rush to digitise operations — often outpacing cybersecurity investments — may leave businesses in Africa exposed to advanced persistent threats.
In the B2C space, the explosion of digital financial services, coupled with low digital literacy rates, makes individuals prime targets for opportunistic attacks,” comments Maher Yamout, Lead Cybersecurity Researcher with Kaspersky Global Research and Analysis Team.
“Organisations in Africa should prioritise a unified approach by enhancing collaboration, investing in specialised cybersecurity training, and promoting digital literacy to effectively combat the rising tide of cybercrime. Initiatives like the African Cyber Surge operation and targeted educational programs can serve as blueprints for building a resilient digital ecosystem across the continent.”
A $60 billion Africa AI Fund is set to be established, leveraging public, private, and philanthropic capital. The goal is to build a secure, inclusive, and competitive African AI economy through foundational and catalytic investment, according to a declaration made at the recent Global AI Summit on Africa in Kigali, Rwanda.
The declaration seeks to leverage the potential of AI to drive innovation and competitiveness to advance Africa’s economies, industries, and societies. Second, to position Africa as a global leader in ethical, trustworthy, and inclusive AI adoption.
The declaration also seeks to foster the sustainable and responsible design, development, deployment, use, and governance of AI technologies in Africa.
The memorandum was facilitated by Qhala, Smart Africa, Rwanda’s Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and supported by the Gates Foundation.
Qhala is an AI enabler dedicated to driving innovation and digital transformation across Africa.
In a statement, Qhala said the declaration outlines shared commitment among African nations to align national strategies with continental goals, safeguard data sovereignty, build digital infrastructure, and foster a sustainable AI innovation ecosystem.
The organisation went on to say Africa’s AI landscape is changing at a fast pace and it is projected to contribute $2.9 trillion to the African economy by 2030.
Shikoh Gitau, CEO of Qhala, said: “This declaration is timely, as Africa’s AI ecosystem is rapidly evolving but remains fragmented and underfunded. This will ensure that Africa takes its place in a leadership role in global AI development.”
Lacina Koné, CEO of Smart Africa, added: “AI is not just technology to us, it’s an African arrow that, when thrown with the right ethical frameworks and inclusive policies, can pierce the way to African digital prosperity and resilience for the benefit of every citizen.”
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