A new Interpol report revealed that cybercrime now accounts for more than 30% of all reported crime in West and East Africa.
The payoff for a single successful cyber breach can be enormous for threat actors and lucrative for criminals.
Last month, a new Interpol report revealed that cybercrime now accounts for more than 30% of all reported crime in West and East Africa, and is increasing sharply elsewhere on the continent, including South Africa.
Cybercrime
Interpol confirmed the spiking rates of cybercrime across Africa in its latest Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report.
The report also revealed that online scams, particularly through phishing, were the most frequently reported cybercrimes in Africa, while ransomware, business email compromise (BEC) and digital sextortion also remain widespread.
So, even as the threat landscape evolves rapidly and a cyberattack occurring every 39 seconds, one thing is certain: Attackers will continue to aggressively hunt for vulnerabilities to exploit.
In addition to the growing concern around social engineering and identity-based threats, recent studies show a growing trend of attacks on the PC. File-less malware that frequently targets memory on the PC now comprises 75% of attacks.
On the home front, South Africa was ranked number one in Africa for ransomware and info-stealer attacks in the second half of 2024.
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PC attacks
Tony Bartlett, Director of Data Centre Compute, Dell Technologies South Africa said in addition to the growing concern around social engineering and identity-based threats, recent studies show a growing trend of attacks on the PC.
“To add to this, according to Microsoft, 400 million PCs risk losing updates as Windows 10 support ends in 2025. In the meantime, AI has arrived on device, expanding innovation as well as the attack surface. With hundreds of models and AI features now in the mix, sensitive data is now at risk of exposure to applications like GenAI,” Bartlett said.
Proactive defence
Bartlett said while no organisation can block every cyberattack, they can blend a proactive defence strategy with the ability to adapt quickly when a breach occurs.
“To do this, you must hurdle over one major risk: The unknown. Unknown vulnerabilities, unknown access, unknown intruders. Truly secure technology today must be built to catch and address anomalous activity when it happens, wherever it happens – down to the BIOS and silicon levels.”
AI PC’s
He said AI PCs are designed with the adversary in mind, offering advanced security features that assume attacks are inevitable and layering defences accordingly.
Bartlet said this includes device-level ‘below-the-OS’ security and security software ecosystem integrations among others.
“New research from MITRE Centre for Informed Defence proves that your choice of PC hardware plays a critical role in enabling security software and OS features to protect your assets effectively.
“Inevitable security exposures on outdated PCs. A growing attack surface as we explore the AI frontier. Emerging technologies on the dark web. These factors create a perfect environment for adversaries to breach networks at speed and scale,” Bartlett said.
IT costs
Bartlett added that while the cost of IT and security is rising rapidly, there are partners who can help improve long-term cyber resilience to get more value from technology investments as you refresh.
“Upgrade to PCs that are future-proofed for the AI revolution – PCs that are already re-architecting endpoint security as we know it,” Bartlett said.
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