Cyber threats escalate in Africa

by MTHULISI SIBANDA 
JOHANNESBURG – WEEKLY attacks on organisations in African countries exceeded the global average in August, according to Global Threat Intelligence insights released by Check Point Research.

Of the four countries included in the August 2026 report, Angola had 5 416 attacks per organisation per week (up 47 percent year-on-year), followed by Nigeria with 4 906 attacks (up 45 percent YoY) and Kenya with 3 658 attacks per organisation per week (up 6 percent YoY).

South Africa was slightly lower than the global average at 2 086 attacks per organisation per week (down 3 percent YoY).

Organisations worldwide experienced an average of 2 422 cyberattacks per week, representing a 4-percent increase month on month and a 22-percent increase YoY.

According to Check Point, the findings point to a broad escalation in cyber risk, with attack volumes continuing their upward trend while ransomware, phishing and GenAI-related data exposure remained key enterprise security challenges.

Together, these trends underline the need for a prevention-first security strategy that gives organisations consistent visibility and control across users, email, networks, cloud environments and AI tools.

Latin America was the most attacked region, with 3 577 weekly attacks per organisation, up 25 percent year on year.

Europe recorded the fastest growth in attack volumes, rising 28 percent year on year, while Africa reached 3 335 weekly attacks (up from 3 237 in July 2026) and Asia Pacific 3 325 (3 316 in July 2026).

The increase in Europe shows that cyber pressure is not limited to traditionally high-volume regions but is spreading across mature digital economies where organisations operate complex, interconnected environments.

In Africa, the energy and utilities sectors are most targeted.

“This should be a red flag to all concerned,” said Lorna Hardie, Regional Director: Africa for Check Point Software.

She said these sectors were the heartbeat of any country’s economy, and ensuring their cybersecurity should be a matter of priority for all concerned.

Hardie said, furthermore, August’s data shows cyber risk expanding across several fronts at once.

She said with attacks climbing, ransomware accelerating, phishing remaining a common entry point and GenAI creating a new route for data exposure, security teams could not rely on fragmented defences.

“They need a prevention-first protection approach that combines visibility, control and automation across network, cloud, endpoint, email and AI usage to stop threats before they disrupt operations or expose sensitive information.”

– CAJ News