A new report warns that a growing governance gap is leaving governments and public institutions across Africa increasingly exposed as cybercriminals use artificial intelligence to automate and accelerate attacks.
The report shows that organisations in Africa face an average of 3 135 cyberattacks every week. This is far higher than the global average of 2 000. Ransomware, identity theft and the exploitation of weak or misconfigured security systems continue to be the most common threats across the continent.
According to the findings, governments and public institutions are now the most targeted sector. A senior regional leader from a cybersecurity firm said, “Government is number one on the attack list, followed by education, and only then finance and telecommunications. The gap between the financial sector and government institutions is growing bigger in terms of cyber resilience.”
South Africa is estimated to lose R2.2 billion each year to cybercrime. While the financial sector has invested heavily in cyber governance and data protection, government departments and education institutions remain significantly underprepared. This imbalance is affecting both the country’s finances and its national security.
Other African nations such as Nigeria and Ethiopia are also seeing sharp increases in attacks. Both countries are undergoing rapid digital transformation as they move public services and business processes online, creating a wider attack surface. As one expert explained, “Digital transformation expands the attack surface. Misconfigurations, unpatched systems and cloud migrations create ideal opportunities for attackers.”
Although South Africa has recorded a small drop in the number of attempted attacks compared with last year, the intrusions have become far more advanced and faster due to the use of artificial intelligence. AI is becoming a “double edged sword” as criminals manipulate large language models to extract sensitive information, while staff may unknowingly upload confidential data into AI tools. “Protection around these models is critical. Guardrails must be in place about what information they are allowed to divulge,” the expert said.
The cybersecurity firm is urging organisations across Africa to strengthen governance practices, secure cloud environments and enforce stricter controls over AI tools before threats escalate further.
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