‘Nigeria increasingly becoming target of cyber attacks’

A report by a cyber security solutions, Check Point Software Technologies, has said African countries are increasingly a choice target for cybercriminals, and it added that organisations are increasingly coming under cyber attacks. Even though the continent’s internet penetration was only 35.2 per cent in December 2017, 19.2 per cent behind the world average, cybercrime […]

A report by a cyber security solutions, Check Point Software Technologies, has said African countries are increasingly a choice target for cybercriminals, and it added that organisations are increasingly coming under cyber attacks.

Even though the continent’s internet penetration was only 35.2 per cent in December 2017, 19.2 per cent behind the world average, cybercrime is a serious threat to countries in Africa, it said.

One of the main challenges that the security industry in Africa, and globally, continuously fight against is mobile security.

It is hardly surprising given that Sub-Saharan Africa alone currently has a unique mobile subscriber penetration of 44 per cent, expected to hit 52 per cdent in 2025.

“The sheer economy of scale offered by mobile devices is incredibly appealing to cybercriminals. They are using every available opportunity to attack individuals and organisations through their mobile devices, including apps, particularly because these devices are so popular and people usually do not take as strict precautions when it comes to securing them as they would with their laptops for example,” explains Rick Rogers, Regional Director, Africa at Check Point.

Rogers said, “Check Point has discovered two major vulnerabilities related to mobile devices over the past month alone – Man-in-the-Disk, which our researchers discovered a new attack surface for Android apps exploiting a shortcoming in the way that Android apps use storage resources and Fake apps which researchers discovered a vulnerability in WhatsApp that allows a threat actor to intercept and manipulate messages sent by those in a group or private conversation.’’

According to him, it’s no surprise that mobile attacks are having a major impact on organisations in Nigeria.

“One of the key markets in Africa, Nigeria, is quickly becoming a mobile-first country, with mobile penetration increasing from 53 per cent in 2016 to 84 per cent in 2017. And considering the availability of phones at a lower price point, more Nigerians are now able to afford a mobile device,” he said. He said even though major malware like Ransomware, Cryptominer, and banking trojans have had, and continue to have a big impact, it was mobile attacks on Nigerian companies that were growing in prevalence.

When comparing the impact of these attacks to the global market, we find that Nigeria averaged 20 per cent – 35 per cent higher between January and August this year, which is not to be taken lightly, he explained.

“The current threat landscape has evolved into a much more aggressive beast. We are now experiencing Gen V (fifth generation) cyber-attacks, which are characterised as large-scale and fast moving across multiple industries.

“These sophisticated attacks on mobile, cloud and various enterprise networks easily bypass conventional defenses being used by most organisations today as they rely on older generations of security,” Rogers said.

Seeing that Africa is increasingly under threat from cybercriminals, the need for local businesses to partner with security specialists that can help them remain one step ahead of the game is essential.

To ensure that enterprises across Africa have access to the expertise and technology needed to protect themselves from sophisticated attacks on all fronts, the company has invested in growing its local teams in North, East and South Africa, SADC and West Africa through the following appointment: