LAGOS, Nigeria, August 27, 2025/APO Group: According to data released by the global cybersecurity company Kaspersky, the Sub-Saharan Africa region has witnessed 42.4 million web attacks and 95.6 million on-device attacks that were detected during the first half of 2025. The region has also recorded more than a double increase in spyware, more than 64 percent password stealer attacks, and more than 12 percent backdoor infections as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The results were revealed ahead of Kaspersky’s participation in GITEX Nigeria, considered as one of the region’s most significant technology events set to take place on September 3-4 in Lagos, where the company is expected to share practical advice and deliver workshops designed to support businesses and individuals to buttress their defences in the wake of such fast-evolving threats.
In Nigeria during the first half of 2025, Kaspersky security tools blocked more than 1.46 million online attack attempts on users. With these threats, including phishing scams, exploits, botnets, Remote Desktop Protocol attacks, and Network spoofing, such as fake Wi-Fi networks, nearly one in five people in the country, to the tune of 19.9 percent, were targeted. In the same period, 4.97 million on-device incidents were blocked, where 28.6 percent of Nigerian users faced malware delivered via infected USB drives, CDs, DVDs, and hidden installers, including ransomware, worms, backdoors, trojans, password stealers, and spyware.
Key findings also show 66 percent rise in password stealers in Nigeria during H1 2025 in relation to the same period in 2024, together with 53 percent increase in spyware blocked, as well as exploits targeting vulnerabilities in applications such as Microsoft Office. While the overall number of phishing detections was slashed by 52 percent, phishing threats have become more targeted focusing on specific topics, specifically related to financial topics such as banks, e-shops, payment systems, are on the rise and grew to 46 percent. In this instance, Kaspersky has recorded more than 595,000 detections of finance-related phishing in the country.
The report also noted that industrial environments have become subject to cyber threats, with attacks on 26.5 percent of Industrial Control Systems (ICS) computers in Nigeria being blocked by Kaspersky solutions in H1 2025. It also noted that there are likely to be significant issues with virus and worm threats, particularly impacting the construction, ICS engineering and integration, power energy, and biometrics industries. On the whole, Africa has one of the highest rates of ICS computers on which malicious blocks were found among regions globally.
The General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Kaspersky, Chris Norton commented, “Every day, more people in Africa and in Nigeria specifically are moving their businesses, banking, and even daily errands online. But with this opportunity comes a challenge. Cybercriminals are also becoming more active, targeting not only big companies and government networks, but also ordinary people, small businesses, and industrial infrastructures we depend on.”
