We have seen cybercrime reach new heights over the last year and Africa appears to be a popular target among cybercriminals peddling malware.

This is according to Kaspersky which has seen a five percent increase in the frequency of malware attacks during the first six months of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020.

In six months as many as 85 million malware attacks were detected in just four countries. South Africa was the most targeted with 32 million attacks followed by Kenya which saw 28.3 million attacks directed at the country, Nigeria with 16.7 million and Ethiopia which saw as many as eight million malware attacks.

While the number of attacks in Kenya decreased by 13 percent year-on-year, Ethiopia and Nigeria saw an increase of 20 and 23 percent respectively while here in South Africa, malware attacks have increased by 14 percent.

Kaspersky says that while malware has always been a concern, in the last year hackers have refocused their efforts in hopes of compromising consumer and corporate systems in order to gain access to critical information.

Unfortunately, Africa’s growth in the digital space has also made it prime target.

“Given the growth of digital transformation across Africa since last year, the continent has become an attractive target for those looking to exploit a lack of user education and cybersecurity understanding. This has contributed to the large number of personal devices still not having any form of cybersecurity software installed,” writes enterprise sales manager at Kaspersky Africa, Bethwel Opil.

This once again highlights the importance of investing in cybersecurity education. While IT systems should of course be invested in as well, the value of educating a workforce means that – if done properly – in the event of an attempted breach, employees are able to respond effectively.

The enemies are that gates folks, and ignoring them won’t stop their attacks.