AN average of 2 960 attacks: that is the number of cyber attacks to which the ordinary organisation in Africa is subjected each and every week.

It is a staggering revelation and what makes it more worrying is that this is growing rapidly every year. This year’s figure is up 37% on the previous year, according to Checkpoint Research.

Not only is Africa suffering thousands of cyber attacks, it is also the region with the highest weekly average on earth. The global average is 1 636 attacks a week.

 Cyber attacks are now part and parcel of the business landscape and, as these figures show, Africa is a major target. Given the sheer scale of the problem, cyber security is a fundamental requirement for any business, non-governmental organisation or government entity trying to operate on the continent.

What makes Africa especially vulnerable is the continent’s lack of infrastructure and resources resulting from budget limitations. Also causing this is a lack of awareness of the truly critical nature of the problem; legislative and policy lethargy; and a continuing shortage of trained cyber security professionals.

Another area of vulnerability is the continent’s youthful population. While an asset, a young population also comes with risks. More than 70% of Africa’s population is under 30, according to the United Nations, and the number of young people will continue to grow.

Young people often lack financial resources and become accustomed to compromising their cyber security in order to access connectivity, whether through sharing devices, connecting to wi-fi in public places or using unencrypted connections. Another risk is that youth-focused education is the area suffering the most cyber attacks, partly due to the rise in online education since the Covid crisis.

Education and research institutions are also often primary targets for cyber criminals because the sensitive information they hold is useful and because remote education often involves multiple groups of online users.

Young people are enthusiastic users of entertainment content, which usually makes them willing to seek out pirated content, something that comes with significant risks such as malware, ransomware, fraud and identity theft and many other problems.

These risks have seen the rise of the Partners Against Piracy initiative, a coalition of MultiChoice Africa and cyber security firm, Irdeto, joining forces to fight content piracy in Africa.

This initiative has made significant strides, with Irdeto and other key stakeholders having conducted around 155 raids across Africa in 2024 and 4 351 pirate-content networks having been closed down.

Zimbabwe is not immune from any of this and the threat is as great here as anywhere, so we, as Zimbabweans, must take note and join in the anti-piracy drive. 

Despite the risk of piracy in youth-culture channels, Africa’s youth dividend is at a significant advantage as the world embraces connected, digital economies. It has been predicted that by 2030 Africa will have 438 million mobile internet users, an army of savvy, digital people ready to work and to do business online.

This rapid digital transformation increases the need for robust cyber security in African economies. Research shows that only seven African countries are ranked among the top 50 for cyber  security readiness. Increasing the continent’s resilience against cyber threats will require initiatives on several fronts:

l Awareness and education — it is critical to build cyber security education into school curriculums, corporate training programmes and public awareness campaigns;

l Investment — cyber security is a sophisticated, specialised area that is best managed by experts with relevant, up-to-the-minute skills. Organisations must budget to enlist these experts to build robust cyber security frameworks;

l Legislation — cyber security considerations must be integrated into policies to ensure that cyber resilience is legislated and that cyber criminals are prosecuted and jailed. This requires international, cross-sectoral co-operation;

l Infrastructure protection — cyber security requires an information security infrastructure, which is a massive weakness in Africa. It is estimated that 90% of African businesses operate without comprehensive cyber security protocols. Inadequate or outdated infrastructure limits their ability to detect, prevent and respond to cyber attacks effectively;

l Public-private partnerships — the private sector has cyber security expertise and agile industry knowledge. Governments have budgets and the policy strength to get things done. A co-ordinated partnership approach is the ideal way to unlock these respective competencies for everyone’s benefit.

National functions like health, education, social services and justice are all dependent on digital platforms. Neglecting cyber security places the delivery of all these services at risk.

On the upside, future careers will rely increasingly on digital skills and digital platforms. These platforms must be secured if Africa’s people are going to be able to build businesses, campaigns and other initiatives in the digital space.

As a continent, we simply cannot afford to ignore the importance of building cyber resilience to secure the future of Africa’s people. Zimbabwe must also take note and take action, since we cannot be left behind.

  • Njanji is the head of corporate affairs and public relations of MultiChoice Zimbabwe.