By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria witnessed saw a 23 per cent increase in malware attacks in the first half of the year as 16.7 million targets were recorded, according to the cybersecurity firm, Kaspersky.
This happened as cybercriminals and hackers continue to focus on African countries considering digital transformation advancements and the increase in remote working resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Overall, four countries accounted for 85 million attacks, with South Africa being the most targeted (32 million attacks), followed by Kenya (28.3 million), Nigeria (16.7 million) and Ethiopia (8 million).
All countries but Kenya saw the relative growth of all malware attacks. Ethiopia followed Nigeria with an increase of 20 per cent, South Africa saw an increase of 14 per cent, while Kenya’s number of attacks decreased by 13 per cent.
Speaking on this, Mr Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa said, “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 a large number of personal devices still not having any form of cybersecurity software installed.”
He explained that “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 corporates against these threats,” Mr Opil added.
The firm pointed out that they were several best practices to consider when it comes to malware protection.
“Install anti-virus software on every device that connects to the Internet. Kaspersky recommends Kaspersky Security Cloud.
“Only download applications from trusted sites. Even then, 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,” he added.
Kaspersky is a global cybersecurity and digital privacy company engaged in deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe.
The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats for over 400 million users
