This Is The Country With The Highest Number Of Cyber Crime Attacks In Africa

As technology continues to advance, cyber-attacks continue to increase and cybercriminals are getting more sophisticated.

A new report by Check Point has revealed that In Africa, Namibia is the most targeted country by Cyber criminals.

The report corresponds with an earlier one done by Deloitte which that Namibia is one of the top most vulnerable countries in the world to cyber crime.

Rampant cases of cyber crimes have been reported in Namibia due to the lack of security in place to protect the country against cybercriminals.

For a long time, Namibia has been a safe haven for cybercriminals. Criminals who have committed unjustifiable cybercrimes are still walking freely due to the lack of a legal framework to have them prosecuted.

Reports earlier indicated that a bill ‘Electronic Transaction Bill’ was finalised and sent to Cabinet for approval, it is not clear whether the bill was passed.

Jsecoin is the top malware in the continent and it is affecting 19 percent of organisations. The report also disclosed that 84 percent of malicious files in Africa were delivered via Web, compared to 63 percent of malicious files globally.

The mid-year report highlighted that the most common vulnerability exploit type in Africa is Information Disclosure, impacting 68 percent of organisations.

After Namibia, came Zambia, Morocco, South Africa and Nigeria in the top five countries most targetted countries when it comes to cybercrime.

The provider of cybersecurity solutions to governments and corporate enterprises in its report noted that “In 2019 we observed a considerable increase in email scams involving blackmailing such ‘Sextortion’ and ‘Business Email Compromise’ (BEC , which determined to convince victims to pay and don’t necessarily contain malicious links or attachments. The email scammers have also increased the use of evasion techniques in order to bypass email security solutions.”

Researchers also discovered a rapid increase in the volume of Sextortion scams and business email compromise (BEC) which they noted “fraudulently trick victims into making a payment through blackmail or by convincingly impersonating others, respectively.

The report recommended that security experts be attuned with the ever-advancing landscape to ensure companies remain protected from cyber attacks.

The report highlighted the two breaches that affected South Africa’s power utility Eskom, exposing customer information.

Featured Image Courtesy: CPO Magazine