Cyberattacks are on the rise, and they have been a growing concern over a long period of time now. What’s even more worrying is the rates at which cyberattacks are increasing sporadically year after year.

In fact, Africa are among the hardest hit by data breaches and cyber attacks.

This has caused more threat and create fear into the mind of many individuals and organisations in the adoption of cybersecurity in Africa.

Such attacks has been traced to:

Malware. Malicious software (malware) is a program designed to perform harmful actions.

Ransomware. 

Fileless Attacks. 

DoS and DDoS Attacks.

Phishing. 

Account Takeover.

MitM Attacks. 

Just to mention a few among others.

Therefore,they are some factors that has been identified to have been the militating factors that is affecting the adoption and effectiveness of cybersecurity in many African country.

LACK OF CYBERSECURITY AWARENESS AMONGST EMPLOYEES/STAFF:

Believe it or not, when it comes to an organisation’s cybersecurity, the weakest link is the members of staff in the organisation. Phishing attacks, which is the highest threats make more than 80% of total cybersecurity incidents, commonly target unsuspecting employees. In addition to this, employees sometimes may end up sharing sensitive data with unintended recipients.

Now, with most employees working from home and using unprotected networks and devices for work E.g public wifi, it’s now more important than ever to impart cybersecurity awareness training on the employee.which may include how to:

★Recognise phishing attempts

★use secured network connections and devices

practice 

★proper work hygiene (store passwords safely, avoid leaving work devices unattended etc.)

★handle sensitive data safely

★use strong passwords for their work-related accounts.

VULNERABLE REMOTE WORKFORCE

Even though most organisations have allowed their staff to work remotely, they are still unprepared against the kind of security breaches that can result from this major shift. Many remote workers end up using personal devices and insecure public networks (such as those available at local cafes) for work, more frequently than ever, making their devices highly vulnerable to hacking and phishing attempts.

In order to reduce the security risks that come with working remotely, organisation needs to advice all the remote workers against using personal devices for work, and provide them with access to a secure, reliable VPN connection, so they can connect to the corporate network securely and keep the sensitive data from getting intercepted by hackers.

MISCONFIGURED HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE

Many hackers find it easy to take advantage of misconfigured servers and software for sneaking into an organisation’s private network. With that being highlighted, it’s common for an inexperienced IT professionals to misconfigure cloud servers and essential security software (such as antivirus and firewall). In other cases, software are not upgraded to the latest available versions in an effort to eliminate potential exploits. Unfortunately, organisation that are unable to identify and rectify such issues adequately on time may eventually fall prey to the  harmful intentions of cybercriminals.

POOR QUALITY SECURITY PLANNING.

According to a recent research study, almost half of the organisation surveyed lacked cybersecurity defence plans. Given this fact and the rise in cyberattacks, it won’t be wrong to say that if a business isn’t well-prepared and hasn’t experienced a cyberattack in the previous year, it can expect one in the near future.

Many organisations also lack a disaster recovery plan, known as liquidity   which essentially makes a huge difference between a business surviving or collapsing after a cyber attack. In other cases, the critical databases are not properly backed up, which can prove disastrous in the event of a data breach.

In conclusion,this is why it’s advisable to conduct regular cybersecurity audits to identify where your organisation stands currently and what level of planning and execution is needed to achieve the optimum level of security. It will also prove helpful in updating and implementing appropriate information security policies.

When a cyber attack actually happens. Not only does such a team fail to respond to the critical situation in a timely manner, but they also have no clue on how to ensure organisation continuity, due to their lack of experience.

To avoid such a situation at all costs, it’s best to either hire a cybersecurity expert or work with a cybersecurity consultancy that can meet your requirements, provide you with a reliable cybersecurity strategy, and ensure optimum protection for your industry from cyber threats.