E-Business
Nigeria, Others Confront Flood of Cyber-Attacks
Check Point, a cyber security company has reported that Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Morocco are seeing targeted cyber-attacks on government, education, and financial institutions.
In its just released 2024 African Perspectives on Cyber security report, Check Point, said that the cyber security sector is growing by 20-25% annually, fuelled by investments in infrastructure and Artificial Intelligence-driven solutions.
The report said that South Africa has seen 3,312 attacks on government institutions every week and a 90% increase in ransomware, with cybercrime costing the country nearly 1% of GDP.
Kenya, in East Africa, sees 4,719 attacks on the government sector each week, indicating an urgent need for enhanced defenses.
According to the report, Nigeria sees 4,718 attacks every week, which is one of the highest in Africa.
In a recent incident, the report states that a banking trojan assault affected 100,000 customer accounts, resulting in a $3 million loss.
Morocco is one of Africa’s most targeted countries, with 8,733 attacks on government entities reported each week, the report said.
According to Check Point, the Moroccan government recently faced a state-sponsored cyberattack that compromised classified communications, raising significant national security concerns.
“Organisations in Africa are attacked roughly 3300 times per week, if we look at the global average it is about 1 800, it is almost double the attacks,” said Hendrik de Bruin, head of security consulting at Check Point SADC during the presentation.
Check Point noted that the continent’s GDP is predicted to exceed $4 trillion by 2027, and digital infrastructure has emerged as a key driver of economic growth. However, rapid digitisation has resulted in increased vulnerability.
De Bruin explained: “We are slowly, but surely digitalising our industries, we are digitising our governments, private sectors are digitising themselves, so we have got an expanding digital attack footprint.
“We also have cloud adoption, which is not new, but picking up pace in Africa. That is another way that these attackers are using to gain access to organisations, and we also see a large uptake on cloud specific attacks as well.”
Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) is in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and needs urgent reforms to revive it, according to Isaac Kekemeke, board chairman of the service.
Kekemeke, who spoke at a workshop organised for NIPOST staff in Abuja yesterday, added that it is now time to go the whole hog to reform and make NIPOST fulfill its destiny to compare and compete favourably with multinational postal agencies.
“The approach may not be palatable at all times but we need to take the tough but necessary decisions to exit the intensive care unit. We are either out of ICU in good health or head for the morgue. NIPOST either functions effectively now as a commercialised state operator or gets privatised, so that myself, the PMG, and a good number of you risk the loss of our jobs,” the chairman said.
No doubt, he added, “Change is not always easy as many loathe change because of the uncertainty it brings but it is in my place to urge you all to embrace the change we advocate.”
The Internet Society’s six-month Fellowship Peering program continues to help make internet access affordable, dependable, and resilient. The program, according to the global charitable organisation, is targeted for fifteen professionals in the peering and interconnection sector.
“It offers a unique opportunity to build the skills, knowledge, and networks necessary to improve local Internet infrastructure and policy,” according to the site’s description.
The fellowship participants will participate in a comprehensive curriculum that includes virtual training sessions, collaborative forums, and technical and advocacy-based instruction on routing, Internet Exchange Points, and policy.
The fellowship culminates in attendance at a global peering event, which provides direct experience and networking opportunities with important voices in the Internet community.
The fellowship enhances participants’ impact in their particular nations by developing engagement with seasoned professionals and boosting regional and global collaboration. The program invites fellows to return to their communities prepared to expand interconnectivity, improve policy conditions, and make a meaningful contribution to the development of the Internet ecosystem.
Applicants must have at least three years of Internet experience and be based in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, or Asia-Pacific.
Eligibility also required proper travel documentation and availability to attend important events such as African Peering and Interconnection Forum, Latin American and Caribbean Network Operators Forum, or Peering Asia, as well as a commitment of roughly four hours per week over six months.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called for the withdrawal of the amendment of the Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 because it seeks to regulate the activities of bloggers operating within the territorial boundaries of Nigeria.
The organisation in its letter urged Mr Godswill Akpabio, Senate President, and Mr Tajudeen Abbas, Speaker of the House of Representatives, to “immediately withdraw the repressive bill.”
The titled A Bill for an Act to Amend the Nigeria Data Protection Act, 2023, to Mandate the Establishment of Physical Offices within the Territorial Boundaries of the Federal Republic of Nigeria by Social Media Platforms and for Related Matters among others intends to regulate bloggers, including by requiring all bloggers to register local offices and join recognised national association for bloggers.
Currently, the bill has passed its first and second reading in the Senate.
In the letter signed its deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP asked Mr Akpabio and Mr Abbas “to ensure that any amendment to the Nigeria Data Protection Act promotes and protects the rights of bloggers and other journalists and does not undermine the fundamental human rights of Nigerians.”
It demanded an end to “the imposition of unnecessary restrictions on the rights of Nigerians online and Internet-based content.”
In the letter dated April 12, 2025, the group said, “This bill is a blatant attempt to bring back and fast-track the obnoxious and widely rejected social media bill by the back-door.”
“If passed, the bill would also be used to ban major social media platforms—including Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, WhatsApp, YouTube, TikTok, and independent bloggers if they ‘continuously fail to establish/register and maintain physical offices in Nigeria for a period of 30 days.
“Lawmakers should not become arbiters of truth in the public and political domain. Regulating the activities of bloggers and forcing them to associate would have a significant chilling effect on freedom of expression and lead to censorship or restraint.
“Should the National Assembly and its leadership fail to withdraw the bill to regulate the activities of bloggers, and should any such bill be assented to by President Bola Tinubu, SERAP would consider appropriate legal action to challenge the legality of any such law and ensure it is never implemented in the public interest,” the organisation warned.
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