Business Post Contributor
By Sodeinde Temidayo David
A global leader in cybersecurity solutions and services, Kaspersky, has blocked not less than 30,000 mobile malware attacks in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa in just six months.
According to the cybersecurity company, between January and June 2021, a total of 14,071 attacks originated from Nigeria, while 10,697 malware’s were blocked in Kenya and 5,499 in South Africa.
Monitoring the African-based attacks, it was observed that system threats in Nigeria continued to increase as it trails Egypt which had a record of 19,466 cases by the number of attacks blocked.
This gives concerns as it points to how prevalent mobile threats have become in this highly connected country.
According to the latest research made by Kaspersky, Nigeria places eighth at 11.76 per cent share of users around the world, attacked by mobile malware.
The top three most prevalent malware behaviours that Kaspersky discovered in Nigeria were Trojans, Trojan-Downloaders, and Trojan-Droppers. Others included the Trojan proxy allows an attacker to use the infected device as a proxy to connect to the Internet.
A trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as legitimate software which attackers can use to try and gain access to user systems.
Trojan-Downloaders, as the name implies, download and install new versions of malicious programmes, including Trojans and Adware on victim computers.
Meanwhile, Trojan-Droppers usually save a range of files containing malicious programmes to the victim’s drive, once installed.
Commenting on the report, the Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa, Mr Bethwel Opil, noted that, “Mobile malware remains a significant threat for corporate and personal users across Africa. These attacks are usually very diverse with hackers leveraging a range of methodologies and technologies to compromise victims’ devices. Trojan-Downloaders and Trojan-Droppers are especially dangerous given their potential to contain significantly damaging payloads.”
Nigerians are, therefore, advised to install cybersecurity solutions on their mobile devices.
Other additional ways users can enhance their security, is to create a strong password and the installation of apps from reputable sources.
Mobile users were also urged not to trust SMS, as mobile malware uses text messages and were advised not to respond to requests for credit card details or other private information.
To prevent attacks from proxy malware’s, web users are, therefore, advised to check their browser for the lock symbol. The lock icon in the address bar indicates that the sight is secure when entering personal data.
Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise are constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe.
