Africa has always been prone to cyber-related threats due to the high number of domains paired with weak network and information security. In Africa, Nigeria remains the largest target and source of malicious Internet activities. It is known to be one of the primary origins of scam and phishing emails and other online fraud schemes.
In major African cities, such as Cairo, Johannesburg, Lagos, and Nairobi, the rate of cyber connected disturbances, such as fraudulent financial transactions and child kidnappings, especially in Kenya, facilitated through Internet communications has doubled in the past three years. A 2019 Deloitte Touche survey found that financial institutions in Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zambia had registered losses of up to $245 million due to cyber fraud, a high sum for countries without highly developed banking systems.
Cybercriminals have taken advantage of COVID-19 related disruptions (remote work, instability) to stage attacks on small and large business entities worldwide. A survey commissioned by Liquid Telecom in August 2020 revealed that 57 percent of network managers in Africa reported a spike in cyber threats as the continent struggled with the COVID-19 pandemic.