Telecom
Ransomware Attacks Reaches Highest Level as 66% of Organisations Surveyed fell Victim to adversaries – Sophos Report
Sophos, a global leader in innovating and delivering cybersecurity as a service, has released its annual “State of Ransomware 2023[LS1] ” report, which found that in 76% of ransomware attacks against surveyed organizations, adversaries succeeded in encrypting data. This is the highest rate of data encryption from ransomware since Sophos started issuing the report in 2020.
The survey also shows that when organizations paid a ransom to get their data decrypted, they ended up additionally doubling their recovery costs ($750,000 in recovery costs versus $375,000 for organizations that used backups to get data back).
Moreover, paying the ransom usually meant longer recovery times, with 45% of those organizations that used backups recovering within a week, compared to 39% of those that paid the ransom.
Overall, 66% of the organizations surveyed were attacked by ransomware—the same percentage as the previous year.
This suggests that the rate of ransomware attacks has remained steady, despite any perceived reduction in attacks.
“Rates of encryption have returned to very high levels after a temporary dip during the pandemic, which is certainly concerning.
“Ransomware crews have been refining their methodologies of attack and accelerating their attacks to reduce the time for defenders to disrupt their schemes,” said Chester Wisniewski, field CTO, Sophos.
“Incident costs rise significantly when ransoms are paid. Most victims will not be able to recover all their files by simply buying the encryption keys; they must rebuild and recover from backups as well.
“Paying ransoms not only enriches criminals, but it also slows incident response and adds cost to an already devastatingly expensive situation,” said Wisniewski.
When analyzing the root cause of ransomware attacks, the most common was an exploited vulnerability (involved in 36% of cases), followed by compromised credentials (involved in 29% of cases). This is in line with recent, in-the-field incident response findings from Sophos’ 2023 Active Adversary Report for Business Leaders.
Additional key findings from the report include:
· In 30% of cases where data was encrypted, data was also stolen, suggesting this “double dip” method (data encryption and data exfiltration) is becoming commonplace
· The education sector reported the highest level of ransomware attacks, with 79% of higher education organizations surveyed and 80% of lower education organizations surveyed reporting that they were victims of ransomware
· Overall, 46% of organizations surveyed that had their data encrypted paid the ransom. However, larger organizations were far more likely to pay. In fact, more than half of businesses with revenue of $500 million or more paid the ransom, with the highest rate reported by those with revenue over $5 billion. This could partially be due to the fact that larger companies are more likely to have a standalone cyber insurance policy that covers ransom payments
“With two thirds of organizations reporting that they have been victimized by ransomware criminals for the second year in a row, we’ve likely reached a plateau. The key to lowering this number is to work to aggressively lower both time to detect and time to respond.
“Human-led threat hunting is very effective at stopping these criminals in their tracks, but alerts must be investigated, and criminals evicted from systems in hours and days, not weeks and months. Experienced analysts can recognize the patterns of an active intrusion in minutes and spring into action.
“This is likely the difference between the third who stay safe and the two thirds who do not. Organizations must be on alert 24×7 to mount an effective defense these days,” said Wisniewski.
Sophos recommends the following best practices to help defend against ransomware and other cyberattacks:
· Strengthen defensive shields with:
o Security tools that defend against the most common attack vectors, including endpoint protection with strong anti-exploit capabilities to prevent exploitation of vulnerabilities, and Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) to thwart the abuse of compromised credentials
o Adaptive technologies that respond automatically to attacks, disrupting adversaries and buying defenders time to respond
o 24/7 threat detection, investigation and response, whether delivered in-house or by a specialist Managed Detection and Response (MDR) provider
· Optimize attack preparation, including making regular backups, practicing recovering data from backups and maintaining an up-to-date incident response plan
· Maintain good security hygiene, including timely patching and regularly reviewing security tool configurations
Data for the State of Ransomware 2023 report comes from a vendor-agnostic survey of 3,000 cybersecurity/IT leaders conducted between January and March 2023. Respondents were based in 14 countries across the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific. Organizations surveyed had between 100 and 5,000 employees, and revenue ranged from less than $10 million to more than $5 billion.
Karl Toriola, chief executive, MTN Nigeria has defended recent tariff hikes by mobile network operators, stating they are essential for the “survival” of the telecoms industry in Nigeria, despite significant criticism.
Karl Toriola, chief executive, MTN Nigeria
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) granted mobile network operators permission to raise tariffs by up to 50% last month, a change reportedly implemented on 11 February.
The increase has sparked public outrage, as mobile connectivity has become a vital necessity in daily life across the West African nation.
In an interview with Developing Telecoms, Toriola pushed back against criticism that the price surge was excessive, arguing that tariffs should have increased by approximately 300% to reflect the naira’s sharp devaluation and the country’s soaring inflation.
Addressing the impact of currency devaluation, Toriola emphasised that MTN purchases network equipment and software in US dollars, a process that has become significantly more expensive. With the naira’s decline, operators are now receiving three times fewer dollars than they did in 2023, making operations more challenging.
In February 2023, businesses could exchange 460 naira for one US dollar, but the currency has since devalued sharply. At the time of writing, a single dollar was worth 1,510 naira.
As Nigeria grapples with the sharp devaluation, MTN has been severely affected.
The company was technically bankrupt in 2023 as its liabilities surpassed its assets—a deeply concerning issue for the wider MTN Group, as Nigeria remains one of its highest revenue-generating markets.
“Because of these factors, we’ve seen our costs rise dramatically. The cost of leasing tower space and supplying energy to cell sites increased by 120% in the first three quarters of 2024. So, in comparison, a 50% tariff increase is not that high,” said Toriola.
The IoT West Africa & Data Centre Cloud Expo 2025, co-located with Power and Water Nigeria, is poised to play a crucial role in boosting Africa’s digital economy, projected to reach $180 billion by 2025 and contribute 5.2% to the continent’s GDP.
Shitij Taneja, Vertex Next Managing Director
Organized by Vertex Next, the three-day event will take place from May 13th to 15th, 2025, at the Balmoral Convention Centre, Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos. It will convene government leaders, industry experts, investors, and innovators to explore the latest advancements in IoT, AI, cloud computing, digital infrastructure, and energy solutions.
In a statement made available to journalists in Lagos, Vertex Next Managing Director, Shitij Taneja, stated that this influential event will significantly contribute to the continent’s digital economic growth.
He assured that the expo will feature a comprehensive conference program focused on the transformative power of IoT, AI, and digital technologies across various African industries.
According to Taneja, discussions will center on how these technologies drive economic expansion, improve connectivity, and increase efficiency in key sectors like telecom, energy, finance, and e-commerce. Government officials and business leaders are also expected to collaborate on strategies for scaling digital infrastructure and leveraging data for innovation and sustainable development.
As demand for secure, efficient, and scalable digital infrastructure surges, Africa’s data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12% through 2030, reaching a valuation of over $5 billion.
The expo will feature high-level discussions on critical infrastructure development, investment opportunities, cybersecurity, and AI-driven data center expansion. Thought leaders from global cloud and data center giants will share insights into building future-ready facilities that power industries and drive economic progress.
With Africa’s power sector undergoing transformation, discussions will focus on smart grids, energy storage, and sustainable power solutions to support the continent’s growing digital economy.
The African Development Bank estimates that investment in energy and utilities must increase to $70 billion annually to meet rising demand. Industry leaders will explore the role of IoT and AI in optimizing utilities, managing resources efficiently, and developing smart, connected cities.
The rise of digital banking, fintech, and e-commerce is reshaping consumer experiences and financial transactions across Africa. The fintech sector alone attracted over $3 billion in investments in 2023, and e-commerce is projected to exceed $75 billion in value by 2028.
This expo will highlight how automation, AI, and IoT are creating secure, seamless, and scalable financial solutions, ensuring that businesses stay ahead in the fast-paced digital landscape.
Taneja disclosed that the IoT West Africa & Data Centre Cloud Expo 2025 aligns with Nigeria’s National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) and Agenda 2063 of the African Union, both of which prioritize technological innovation, digital infrastructure, and economic diversification.
By bringing together policymakers and industry stakeholders, the event aims to support regulatory frameworks for digital transformation, foster collaboration between the public and private sectors, encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in ICT and energy, and accelerate initiatives such as Smart Cities and e-Governance.
National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has reaffirmed its dedication to fostering an innovative ecosystem that balances regulation with industry growth. The agency is investing in cloud infrastructure, data classification, and AI applications to establish Nigeria as a leading digital hub in Africa.
Kashifu Inuwa, NITDA’s Director General, emphasized this commitment while speaking at the Africa Hyperscalers Digital Infrastructure Outlook 2025. The event gathered industry experts to explore Africa’s role in the expanding global AI-driven infrastructure boom.
In his remarks, Inuwa highlighted NITDA’s dual regulatory framework: rule-based regulation, involving strict compliance guidelines, and non-rule-based regulation, which allows for industry-led innovation with established benchmarks.
“Before we regulate anything, we need to be aware of the landscape, we need to be intelligent, we need to have data and make sense out of that data, we need to be dynamic because technology is fast-changing and we need to develop that agility within the regulatory framework,” Inuwa stated.
He also discussed the Cloud First Policy, introduced in 2019 to discourage excessive reliance on physical data centres. This policy encourages government agencies and private businesses to leverage cloud computing and digital solutions. Initially, businesses were granted waivers to use public cloud infrastructure, but NITDA is now pushing for local data centres to enhance their capabilities.
A major milestone for NITDA was its successful engagement with global hyperscaler providers, including Google Cloud, which pledged to collaborate with local data centres to drive cloud adoption and establish a hyperscaler data centre in Nigeria. This follows a meeting between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in Paris, where the President shared his transformative ambition for Nigeria.
To further drive cloud adoption, NITDA is finalizing a framework that will mandate data classification, ensuring that certain data categories remain within Nigeria. This move is expected to attract more cloud service providers and bolster the country’s digital sovereignty.
Emphasizing the importance of AI applications, Inuwa disclosed that NITDA is prioritizing AI to enhance governance, regulation, and service delivery. He asserted that AI can revolutionize governance and business operations by automating processes, enhancing regulatory efficiency, and developing knowledge management systems.
Dr. Nadu Denloye, Co-founder of Telnet Nigeria Limited, also spoke at the event, highlighting Africa’s remarkable digital transformation driven by connectivity advancements, cloud adoption, data centres, AI, and a growing digital-native population. She expressed confidence in crafting solutions to drive Africa’s digital growth.
Other notable panelists included Dr. Ayaotunde Coker, CEO Open Access Data Centres and Chairman of the Africa Data Centres Association; Johnson AgboGbua, CEO of Kasi Cloud; Obinna Isiadinso, Data Centres Global Sector Lead at International Finance Corporation; Kazeem Oladepo, Chief Operating Officer at IHS; and Abibat Kazeem, Commercial Director at Bayobab.
This commitment by NITDA underlines its dedication to advancing Nigeria’s position as a digital leader in Africa through innovative solutions and strategic regulations.
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