Eight African Nations Are Among The Top 20 Countries In The World For Cyber Attacks.

Eight African Nations, Ethiopia Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Mozambique were listed among the top 20 most attacked Nations worldwide in January 2025, according to the research. Furthermore, the industries most frequently targeted were telecommunications, Government, and Education.

Of the 109 Nations included in the report, Ethiopia ranked first, while the other African Nations ranged from fifth (Zimbabwe) to seventeenth ( Mozambique). With a normalized risk ranking (NRI) of 31.1%, Egypt, the top performing Nation in Africa, ranked 97th in the ranking. Nigeria went from 13th in December 2024 to 11th in January 2025 as a result of more cyber attacks in January 2025 than in December 2024.

Ghana's NRI dropped from 11th place in December 2024 to 16th place in January 2025, according to the research. The three most common malware families  in the Nations that were highlighted in the research were:

FAKEUPDATES:   A type of downloader malware that was first identified in 2018 and deceives users into downloading malware by posing as legitimate browser updates.

FORMBOOK: It is an infostealer malware that was originally discovered in 2016 and mostly affects Windows PCs. It collects personal data and passwords from a variety of websites.

REMCOS: Initially discovered in 2016, this remote access trojan (RAT) gives Hackers remote control over vulnerable systems and is disseminated through malicious documents.

Cybersecurity threats and attack are nothing new to African Nations. Sensitive Government data was sold online in 2024 by Nigeria's National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), and Kenya's Micro and Small Enterprise Authority (MSEA), while the Nigerian National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed a cyber attack on it's website. African Nations and organizations must invest in more sophisticated technologies to counteract cybercriminals' attempts as AI is being used to support cyber attacks.