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Malware attacks in Africa, including Nigeria, have increased to 85 million in just six months.
This is according to a report released by a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company, Kaspersky.
It stated that four countries accounted for 85 million attacks, with South Africa being the most targeted with 32 million; followed by Kenya, 28.3 million; Nigeria, 16.7 million; while Ethiopia had eight million attacks.
The research company noted that it was a five percent increase in the region.
The company’s Enterprise Sales Manager, Mr. Bethwel Opil, said all the countries but Kenya saw relative growth of all malware attacks.
He said: “Ethiopia and Nigeria have seen an increase of 20 per cent and 23 per cent respectively and South Africa, an increase of 14 percent, while Kenya’s number of attacks decreased by 13 percent.
“Even though the scourge of malware has always been of concern, the past 12-months have highlighted how hackers are refocusing their efforts to compromise consumer and corporate systems and gain access to critical data and information.
“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.
“Malware can get onto a device in several ways, for example, clicking on an infected link or advert, opening an attachment in a spam email, or downloading a compromised app. This means proactive malware protection is essential to safeguard individual users and corporate organisations against these threats.’’
The company recommended that people should install anti-virus software on every device that connects to the internet. Then download only applications from trusted sites.
“Always check the app permissions and, if certain things do not make sense, do not install the programme. Never click on unverified links especially when coming from suspected spam emails, messages, or suspicious-looking websites.
“Keeping operation systems and applications always updated with the latest patches. Be wary of using free Wi-Fi at coffee shops, restaurants, and other places as hackers can snoop for unprotected devices,” it advised
