NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 14 – Two million phishing attacks were recorded in Africa in the first half of 2021 with South Africa accounting for the highest attacks at 1 031 006, a cybersecurity company, Kaspersky has reported.
In Kenya and Nigeria phishing attacks were recorded at 601 557 and 393 569 respectively.
Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Sales Manager at Kaspersky in Africa said that phishing poses a significant threat in Africa aven as he reiterated the importance of ensuring cybersecurity solutions are installed on all connected devices.
“Phishing and spam remain some of the most effective ways of targeting unsuspecting users and gaining access into corporate systems or compromising personal financial and other information that can be used to perpetrate identity theft,” Opil said.
The firm, however, noted that there was a reduction in the number of phishing attacks recorded and blocked with South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria reporting a 17,48, and 13 percent decline respectively.
“This decrease is in line with global trends and supports the decline that Kaspersky research identified happening through the course of last year already. Of course, this does not mean that organizations and consumers can ignore the risk of traditional cybercrime attacks or that phishing, as well as spam, are still not of significant concern across Africa,” the firm said in a statement
In addition to installing relevant cybersecurity solutions, Kaspersky has urged individuals to use multiple email addresses, never respond to any spam and always check the link and ensure the links start with https:// and not http://.
“Keep your browser and operating system software up to date with the latest patches., use anti-spam filters in addition to antivirus and Internet security solutions,” the report added.
Obil said people need to become even more aware of cybersecurity best practices and remain vigilant to protect their personal and business systems from the risk of compromise.