E-Business
Many Africans Still Believe Cybercrime ‘won’t Affect them’ – Report
The digital landscape is overflowing with an ever-evolving array of solutions and services created to make lives easier, offices smoother and engagements richer.
Smartphones, applications, social media, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms and multiple other tools have all become part and parcel of daily life on the African continent, transforming how people connect, collaborate and engage.
Unfortunately, they have also opened up cyber windows that let in the attacks and the threats that compromise organisations and individuals.
For Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa, it has become critical for organisations to invest in training and awareness programmes that help them to identify criminal tactics and mitigate risk.
“We undertook a poll to assess cybersecurity awareness in Africa and discovered that some of the key issues facing organisations right now were awareness and understanding,” she explains. “Many people still feel safe online and believe that cybercrime will not affect them personally. Others expect their work to take care of their cyber safety or do not know how to mitigate the threats themselves.”
The KnowBe4 Cybersecurity in Africa survey polled 800 employees across multiple sectors in Mauritius, Botswana, Egypt and Ghana to assess their cybersecurity awareness.
The survey focused on their levels of connectivity, the digital devices and platforms used, their perceptions of cybersecurity, the ways in which they work and their understanding of the threats.
Of those surveyed, 97% use a smart phone, 74% use a laptop, 47% have a smart TV, 31% use a tablet, 17% have a gaming console, 8% use a feature phone and less than 1% had none of these devices.
When asked what applications they use for work, the most prevalent was WhatsApp (89%), followed by email (80%), Facebook (59%), Telegram (46%), Instagram (45%), Twitter (42%), Zoom (42%), LinkedIn (36%), Microsoft Teams (18%), Snapchat (18%), Slack (5%), WeChat (4%), Signal (4%) or other tools (1%).
On the personal front, the picture remains largely unchanged with Facebook ranking second (78%), followed by Instagram (57%), email (46%), Telegram (40%), Twitter (39%), Snapchat (25%), LinkedIn (14%), Zoom (11%), Signal (3%), Microsoft Teams (2%) and other tools (1%).
“WhatsApp is the most used app across both personal (98%) and business use cases,” says Collard. “While email remains the most popular form of business communication on the continent, it is still immensely popular for personal use. Both platforms are high-risk for cyber threats such as phishing, ransomware and fraud, so these should be a priority for organisations looking to drive awareness and training.”
Connectivity is of course a key concern, as it often introduces vulnerabilities into both professional and personal networks and devices. The survey found that 71% access the internet through their mobile networks, overlapping with the 71% who access the internet through home Wi-Fi, and 36% who go online through work/office networks, while 12% access the internet at internet cafes, and 15% use free Wi-Fi at public places.
“The question is – do people understand the risks associated with accessing the internet in public places and are they putting the right security protocols in place?” asks Collard. “Often, people do not even know that they can be hacked while they access free Wi-Fi, or that they can have critical information, like passwords, stolen while they are online.”
This concern is reflected in the research around cybercrime awareness. On a scale of one to five, most said that they were concerned with cybercrime, with 29% saying they were ‘very concerned’ and 38% saying they were ‘concerned’.
However, 19% said that they were ‘somewhat concerned’ but that they did not understand the threats or how to mitigate them while 7% said that they did not believe it affected them personally because their work took care of it and 7% felt safe and ‘not at all concerned’.
“The problem is – everyone should be concerned about cybercrime,” says Collard. “All it takes is for one person to introduce a virus to a system or open up a doorway or lose their passwords, and the entire organisation is put at risk. Training has never been more important, especially when there is a clear trend around people feeling like they do not know enough about cybercrime to protect themselves or feel like they do not understand what they need to do to stay informed about the risks.”
This is reflected in the biggest concerns raised by those who were worried about cybercrime, with respondents citing online fraud (51%), identity theft (24%), children and family (14%), lack of understanding (10%) and other concerns (1%) as their primary worries. While over half said that they had received cybersecurity training from their employers, only 21% agreed that the training was adequate, while 10% felt it was not adequate at all.
And it is worth noting that many people still were not entirely sure what their roles and responsibilities were around information security (11%) and 45% said that they ‘somewhat agree’ that they could recognise a security incident. Only 34% of people said they felt ‘very confident’ that they could recognise a security incident if they saw one.
Most respondents are hesitant to give away personal information, with 29% saying they tended not to share personal details such as their identity number, and 51% saying they would share this information only if there was a real need to do so, and they understood what it was being used for. 13% part with personal information if they cannot avoid it.
Worryingly, 7% are comfortable sharing personal information, with 4% saying they are likely to do so if they can get something in return – such as a discount, and 3% saying they share personal information all the time.
“Then, we look at issues like cyber hygiene and discover that only 43% of respondents could identify what ransomware was, and only 61% could identify a strong password,” says Collard. “A worrying 20% selected P@$$word!, 25% selected thisismysuperwonkyapp#1, 16% chose Summer#123 and 3% chose Grandma1959. 6% said none of these were strong passwords. Only the 62% who chose DSM@8043&! were correct.”
Digging deeper into how well people understand security, the survey asked people to define two-factor authentication, and 60% said it was ‘using my password plus something I own, such as a One Time Password generator’.
However, 20% said it was ‘Entering my password twice for extra security’, 8% said it was Captcha generators, 9% said it was using two different passwords and 4% said it was using a password manager.
Only 17% say none of the common cybercrime tactics have affected them. More than half (51%) said they had previously had a virus infection on their computer, 32% had lost money due to a scam or con artist, 26% had clicked on a phishing mail, 21% had been scammed from a phone call and 17% had forwarded a scam or hoax email.
When checking to determine whether an email is legitimate, 55% said they only trusted emails from people they knew, 54% do not click on links or open attachments they were not expecting, and 27% check for bad grammar or spelling as a sign the mail is not legitimate. 31% Google the sender or topic to see if it is a scam, 23% hover over links to see their origin, and 11% do all the listed checks.
Add to this the risks of working from home – 32% said they had moved to work from home and among the 20% who were affected by cybercrime while working from home, a multitude of scams and cybercrimes occurred. These scams ranged from being tricked in crypto investment schemes and identity theft, through to accidentally downloading viruses and being hacked.
“The entire landscape is a challenge and the only way to thrive within this complexity is to arm your people with the tools and understanding they need to protect themselves,” concludes Collard.
“Training is the only way to ensure that all the protections and security investments made by the business are fully realised by those who use them. If people understand the threats, their role in mitigating the threats, and what to do to protect against them, they are empowered and more able to overcome the challenging landscape that lies ahead.”
A new global survey from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) reveals that 52% of marketing leaders believe generic top-level domains (gTLDs – the three characters or more that come after the dot in a URL) have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online; however, a knowledge gap is preventing many brands from taking advantage of the opportunities that a gTLD can bring.
The research surveyed over 2,000 marketing leaders across eight countries (Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa, U.K., and U.S.) with the purpose of creating a picture of the evolving digital marketing landscape and understanding the levels of awareness around gTLDs.
It comes as ICANN prepares to open the next application window for new gTLDs in April 2026 the New gTLD Program: Next Round – the first opportunity in more than a decade for organizations to apply to operate their own gTLD.
Top-level domains are the letters found at the end of an Internet address (with gTLDs including .charity, .menu, .paris and .ceo). Brands can apply to run their own gTLD as a way to indicate the purpose of their organization or to clearly mark a website as being related to their brand.
The research shows that increasing brand awareness and visibility is the top priority for marketing leaders (54%) and that over half believe that gTLDs have strong potential for enhancing brand presence online.
However, the research also shows that almost a third (32%) of marketing leaders surveyed are unfamiliar with gTLDs, which suggests that operating a new gTLD may be a strategic opportunity that many organizations are currently overlooking.
Key findings from the research include:
- After defining a gTLD, 92% of marketing leaders responded that they could see the potential benefits to gTLDs, with enhanced brand differentiation (46%), improved customer trust (45%), better control over online presence (44%), and improved SEO (44%) topping the list.
- 19% of marketing leaders work for organizations that have previously applied for a gTLD.
- Cost concerns (31%), knowledge gaps (27%), and insufficient resources (24%) were identified as the main barriers to application.
- The research revealed notable regional variations, with Nigerian (74%) and Indian (61%) marketing leaders showing the strongest belief in gTLDs’ potential for branding and online presence. In contrast, marketers in China expressed more mixed views, with 50% seeing strong potential but 49% considering gTLDs an unnecessary investment with unclear Return On Investment.
The findings come at a time when marketing leaders are facing significant challenges in standing out from competitors (53%), attracting and engaging the right audience (52%), and keeping pace with digital trends (47%).
A new gTLD can be an innovative tool for commerce and communication. They allow businesses in specific countries, sectors, or niche markets to create an exclusive, descriptive, and memorable label on the Internet.
An entity operating a gTLD can provide its users and customers with an extra measure of confidence in its security and legitimacy online. This can be valuable in today’s environment, where users often don’t know whether they can trust the source on the Internet.
Theresa Swinehart, SVP, Global Domains & Strategy said: “The New gTLD Program: Next Round presents an opportunity for businesses, communities, governments, and others to apply to operate their own secure space online, tailored to fit their organization, community, culture, language, and customer interests.
Now is also the moment for brands to consider applying for a gTLD, and this research tells us there is still a lack of awareness. ICANN can help provide information and raise awareness of the Next Round and the opportunity it presents for global communities, organizations, and businesses, including brands.”
To help address the knowledge gap, ICANN is developing resources to help organizations understand the application process and potential opportunities for gTLDs ahead of the 2026 application window. ICANN also offers the Applicant Support Program (ASP), which provides financial and non-financial assistance to eligible applicants.
Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) experts at the 10th annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2025 held recently, talked about supply chain attacks and reported that by the end of 2024 a total of 14,000 malicious packages were found in open-source projects, a 48% increase compared to the end of 2023. 42 million versions of open-source packages have been examined by Kaspersky throughout 2024 in search for vulnerabilities.
Open-source is software with source code that anyone can inspect, modify, and enhance. Popular open-source packages include GoMod, Maven, NuGet, npm, PyPI, and others.
These are tools that power countless applications and help developers easily find, install, and manage pre-built code libraries, making it simpler to build software by reusing code others have written. Attackers take advantage of the popularity of these and other packages.
In March 2025, the Lazarus Group was reported to have deployed several malicious npm packages, which were downloaded multiple times before removal. These packages contained malware to steal credentials, cryptocurrency wallet data, and deploy backdoors, targeting developers’ systems across Windows, macOS, and Linux.
The attack leveraged GitHub repositories for added legitimacy, highlighting the group’s sophisticated supply chain tactics. Kaspersky’s GReAT also found other npm packages related to this attack. Malicious npm packages could have been integrated into web development, cryptocurrency platforms, and enterprise software, risking widespread data theft and financial losses.
In 2024, a sophisticated backdoor was discovered in XZ Utils versions 5.6.0 and 5.6.1, a widely used compression library in Linux distributions. Inserted by a trusted contributor, the malicious code targeted SSH servers, enabling remote command execution and threatening countless systems globally.
Detected before widespread exploitation due to performance anomalies, the incident highlighted the dangers of supply chain attacks. XZ Utils is integral to operating systems, cloud servers, and IoT devices, making its compromise a threat to critical infrastructure and enterprise networks.
In 2024, Kaspersky’s GReAT discovered that attackers uploaded malicious Python packages like chatgpt-python and chatgpt-wrapper to PyPI, mimicking legitimate tools for interacting with ChatGPT APIs.
These packages, designed to steal credentials and deploy backdoors, capitalised on the popularity of AI development to trick developers into downloading them. These packages could have been used in AI development, chatbot integrations, and data analytics platforms, endangering sensitive AI workflows and user data.
“Open-source software is the backbone of many modern solutions, but its openness is being weaponised. The 50% rise in malicious packages by the end of 2024 shows attackers are actively embedding sophisticated backdoors and data stealers in popular packages, which millions rely on.
“Without rigorous vetting and real-time monitoring, a single compromised package can trigger a global breach. Organisations need to secure the supply chain before the next XZ Utils-level attack succeeds,” comments Dmitry Galov, Head of Research Center for Russia and CIS at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team.
Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) has launched an investigation into allegations that the confidentiality and integrity of candidates’ personal data may have been compromised by hackers.
The Commission initiated the inquiry following concerns over possible data breaches during examinations.
Preliminary findings indicate that several examination centres may not have implemented adequate technical and organizational measures to safeguard candidates’ personal information, as required under data protection regulations.
Although the incident reportedly affected 379, 997 candidates, the NDPC’s investigation is poised to cover a systemic audit of data processing and third parties.
It will be recalled that JAMB recently admitted that a technical error on its platform affected a total of 379,997 candidates in 157 examination centres across Lagos and the South-East.
Further investigation led to the arrest of at least 20 suspects who are currently in the custody of the Department of State Services and the Nigerian Police Force.
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