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The fourth edition of the report reveals a steep rise in cyber-related crime across the continent, with online scams, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and digital sextortion identified as the most prevalent threats. According to INTERPOL (interpol.int), cybercrime now accounts for more than 30 per cent of all reported crime in parts of Western and Eastern Africa.
“This fourth edition of the INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment provides a vital snapshot of the current situation, informed by operational intelligence, extensive law enforcement engagement and strategic private-sector collaboration. It paints a clear picture of a threat landscape in flux, with emerging dangers like AI-driven fraud that demand urgent attention. No single agency or country can face these challenges alone.”
Neal Jetton - INTERPOL Cybercrime Director
“Cybersecurity is not merely a technical issue; it has become a fundamental pillar of stability, peace, and sustainable development in Africa. It directly concerns the digital sovereignty of states, the resilience of our institutions, citizen trust and the proper functioning of our economies.”
Ambassador Jalel Chelba - Acting Executive Director of AFRIPOL
As a strategic contributor to this year’s edition, Group-IB shared exclusive statistics and insights on cybercriminal infrastructure and attack patterns observed across Africa in 2024.
Drawing from its flagship Hi-Tech Crime Trends Report 2024, Group-IB provided intelligence on:
Data leaks:
• The highest number of public data breaches were recorded in Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa.
• The education sector and internet service providers were the most frequently impacted by these leaks across the region.
Ransomware activity:
• South Africa was the most frequently targeted country by ransomware operators in 2024.
• Among them, LockBit was identified as the most active ransomware group targeting African entities.
• The education and internet services sectors also ranked among the top targets of ransomware campaigns.
• A notable concentration of ransomware-related data leaks was observed in Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa.
• Additional insights: Group-IB also shared intelligence on phishing infrastructure, stealer malware, and DDoS attack vectors, supporting INTERPOL’s broader work under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) program.
“We are honored to support INTERPOL and its African member countries in strengthening their cyber resilience. As a leading Threat Intelligence company, this collaboration reflects our ongoing commitment to empowering global and regional partners with world-class Threat Intelligence, Incident Response, and Investigation solutions to better prevent, detect and investigate cybercrime.”
Dmitry Volkov - CEO of Group-IB
The INTERPOL report also documents an estimated USD 3 billion in financial losses from cybercrime across Africa between 2019 and 2025, underscoring the urgent need for public-private cooperation and cross-border cyber defense mechanisms.
Group-IB remains committed to working with global and regional stakeholders including law enforcement, regulators, and the private sector to detect, disrupt, and deter cybercriminal activity affecting Africa and beyond.
About Group-IB
Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Singapore, Group-IB (group-ib.com) is a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime. Combating cybercrime is in the company’s DNA, shaping its technological capabilities to defend businesses, citizens, and support law enforcement operations.
Group-IB’s Digital Crime Resistance Centers (DCRCs) are located in the Middle East, Europe, Central Asia, and Asia-Pacific to help critically analyze and promptly mitigate regional and country-specific threats. These mission-critical units help Group-IB strengthen its contribution to global cybercrime prevention and continually expand its threat-hunting capabilities.
Group-IB’s decentralized and autonomous operational structure helps it offer tailored, comprehensive support services with a high level of expertise. We map and mitigate adversaries’ tactics in each region, delivering customized cybersecurity solutions tailored to risk profiles and requirements of various industries, including retail, healthcare, gambling, financial services, manufacturing, crypto, and more.
The company’s global security leaders work in synergy with some of the industry’s most advanced technologies to offer detection and response capabilities that eliminate cyber disruptions agilely.
Group-IB’s Unified Risk Platform (URP) underpins its conviction to build a secure and trusted cyber environment by utilizing intelligence-driven technology and agile expertise that completely detects and defends against all nuances of digital crime. The platform proactively protects organizations’ critical infrastructure from sophisticated attacks while continuously analyzing potentially dangerous behavior all over their network.
The comprehensive suite includes the world’s most trusted Threat Intelligence, The most complete Fraud Protection, AI-powered Digital Risk Protection, Multi-layered protection with Managed Extended Detection and Response (XDR), All-infrastructure Business Email Protection, and External Attack Surface Management.
Furthermore, Group-IB’s full-cycle incident response and investigation capabilities have consistently elevated industry standards. This includes the 77,000+ hours of cybersecurity incident response completed by our sector-leading DFIR Laboratory, more than 1,400 successful investigations completed by the High-Tech Crime Investigations Department, and round-the-clock efforts of CERT-GIB.
Time and again, its solutions and services have been revered by leading advisory and analyst agencies such as Aite Novarica, Gartner®, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, KuppingerCole Analysts AG, and more.
Being an active partner in global investigations, Group-IB collaborates with international law enforcement organizations such as INTERPOL, EUROPOL and AFRIPOL to create a safer cyberspace. Group-IB is also a member of the Europol European Cybercrime Centre’s (EC3) Advisory Group on Internet Security, which was created to foster closer cooperation between Europol and its leading non-law enforcement partners.
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