By Juliet Umeh

A new cybersecurity report by global security firm Kaspersky has identified Nigeria and South Africa among the countries experiencing a surge in online threats in the first quarter of 2025.

According to the report which tracks cybersecurity incidents across the Middle East, Turkiye, and Africa, META, region, Nigeria recorded 17.5 percent of users affected by web-based threats, while South Africa posted similar figures, placing both countries among the top five in the region.

Turkiye and Kenya led the list with 26.1 percent and 20.1 percent respectively, followed by Qatar, 17.8 percent.

The findings were revealed during Kaspersky’s annual Cyber Security Weekend for the META region, where experts spotlighted a growing range of threats, including ransomware, advanced persistent threats, APTs, supply chain attacks, and mobile vulnerabilities, exacerbated by AI and Internet of Things, IoT, exploitation.

Head of META and APAC Regions, Global Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky, Sergey Lozhkin, noted, that “while ransomware remains less prevalent in Africa compared to the Middle East due to lower digitisation and fewer high-value targets, countries like Nigeria and South Africa are increasingly at risk. This is largely due to their expanding digital economies and limited cybersecurity awareness, leaving critical sectors such as manufacturing, finance, and government vulnerable.

“Ransomware is one of the most pressing cybersecurity threats today, targeting organisations across all sectors. As Nigeria and South Africa continue to digitise, they are becoming more attractive to attackers,”

Kaspersky highlighted the emergence of ransomware groups like FunkSec, which are leveraging AI-generated code and ransomware-as-a-service, RaaS, models to conduct mass attacks at scale. FunkSec’s strategy of combining data encryption with exfiltration, while using AI to streamline operations, marks a shift toward more sophisticated and affordable cybercrime.

Other worrying trends include the exploitation of unconventional entry points, such as IoT devices and smart appliances, and the use of large language models, LLMs, for crafting malicious code and phishing schemes.

To counter these threats, Kaspersky advises organisations to: Keep all systems and software regularly updated, implement layered defenses including network segmentation, endpoint protection, and real-time monitoring and train security teams with the latest threat intelligence.

It also advised that organiscations should enable ransomware-specific defenses such as Kaspersky’s free Anti-Ransomware Tool for Business, then use comprehensive cybersecurity solutions.

The company emphasised that proactive security measures, regular system updates, and employee awareness remain critical as threat actors continue to evolve with new tools and strategies.