The report warns that a widening “Governance Gap” is leaving governments and public institutions increasingly vulnerable as criminals deploy artificial intelligence to automate and accelerate attacks.
The findings show that Africa experiences an average of 3 135 weekly attacks per organisation, far higher than the global average of 2 000. Ransomware, identity theft and exploitation of misconfigured security systems remain the continent’s most persistent threats.
Speaking on the report, Check Point’s Country Manager for the Southern African Development Community region, Lionel Dartnall, said governments and public institutions were now the most heavily targeted sector.
“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,” he said.
South Africa (SA) is losing an estimated R2.2 billion annually to cybercrime, according to the CSIR. Dartnall noted that while the financial sector has invested heavily in strengthening cyber governance and data protection, government departments and education institutions remain acutely underprepared. This disparity, he warned, is costing the country in both money and national security.
Other African countries facing sharp surges include Nigeria and Ethiopia, both undergoing rapid digital transformation as they shift public services and business operations online.
“Digital transformation expands the attack surface. Misconfigurations, unpatched systems and cloud migrations create ideal opportunities for attackers,” Dartnall said.
Although SA has seen a small reduction in the number of attempted attacks compared to last year, the sophistication and speed of intrusions have increased significantly due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
Dartnall warned that AI is becoming a “double-edged sword”. Criminals are manipulating large language models to extract sensitive information, while careless staff may upload confidential documents into AI tools without understanding where that data may resurface. “Protection around these models is critical. Guardrails must be in place about what information they are allowed to divulge,” he said.
Check Point is urging organisations across Africa to strengthen governance, secure cloud environments, and implement tighter controls on AI systems before threats escalate further.
–ChannelAfrica–
