Kathy Gibson reports – Africa is experiencing three-times more than the global average when it comes to cyberattacks.

“It is when rather than if organisations will be attacked,” says Pankaj Bhula, regional director: Africa at Check Point.

Over the last month, Angola, Nigeria and Uganda were the most-targeted countries, with South Africa not far behind.

Just within the last couple of years, a South African healthcare facility, a bank, a union and numerous government departments have been hacked – even the president’s personal information has ended up on the dark web.

Indeed, a massive 91% of C-suite executives believe that a catastrophic cyber event is at least somewhat likely within the next two years.

One of the biggest unknown threats is the rapid adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT, which can be used to create a full infection flow – from spear phishing to running a reverse shell.

Researchers have shown how the tools can be used to create and run an attack, says Rudi van Rooyen, sales engineer: South Africa at Check Point.

At the same time, AI can be used to protect against, neutralise and mitigate attacks, he adds.

The majority of attacks in Africa are still from multipurpose malware (botnets and Trojans) and infostealers, with cryptominers, mobile malware and ransomware also plaguing organisations.

In South Africa, Check Point is registering more than 1 400 attacks every week – a number that keeps increasing.

The malware encountered the most is Emotet (10%), AgentTesla (9%), Formbook (6%), Qbot and SnakeLogger (4%), Lokibot (3%), XMRig and Remcos (2%) and njRAT and Guloader (1%).

As cloud adoption increases, we will see more supply chain attacks, Van Rooyen says.

At the same time, hacktivism is evolving in the digital age as hacktivist groups become more mature or politically motivated. These groups are leading an increase in DDoS and botnet attacks.

The motivation for hacktivist attacks is also changing, with the primary goal no longer being about inflicting damage as they also seek publicity – and the more successful the attacks, the more publicity they generate.

Protecting against cyberattacks involves a three-point strategy involving prevention, a combination of the best security engines, and unified management from a trusted vendor, Bhula says.

African organisations are still lagging in cybersecurity maturity, though.

“The good news is that there are some companies that are taking the right path,” he says. “Once that happens it is just a matter of time before other organisations do the right thing.”

A massive shortage of cybersecurity skills continue to hamper efforts, which is why Check Point believes in involving more women in the security field.

Charnie-Lee Adams-Kruger, country manager of Check Point, says there has been an increase in women within the sector, but not as aggressively as it could be.

“A more balanced workforce would naturally have a greater variety of perspective and thus be better equipped to handle a variety of problems,” she says. “Closing the gender gap in cyber security isn’t just a matter of right and wrong – it’s good for business and good for security.”