INTERPOL Cautions of Significant Increase in Cyber Attacks on Western and Eastern Africa

The INTERPOL 2025 Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report has raised alarms over a dramatic surge in cybercrime across Africa, with Western and Eastern regions reporting that over 30% of all documented criminal activities are now cyber-related.

Two-thirds of INTERPOL’s African member countries surveyed confirmed that cybercrimes constitute a medium-to-high proportion of total reported offenses, highlighting the urgent need for enhanced cybersecurity measures.

The report, informed by operational intelligence, law enforcement insights, and strategic private-sector partnerships, paints a concerning picture of a rapidly evolving digital threat landscape, compounded by emerging risks such as AI-driven fraud.

Cybercrime Dominates Reported Offenses

The most prevalent cyberthreats identified include online scams, particularly phishing attacks, which have seen a staggering rise in some African nations with suspected scam notifications increasing by up to 3,000% in the past year, according to data from Kaspersky, a private sector collaborator with INTERPOL.

Ransomware attacks have also escalated in 2024, with South Africa and Egypt bearing the brunt at 17,849 and 12,281 detections respectively, as per Trend Micro statistics.

Other digitized economies like Nigeria (3,459) and Kenya (3,030) are similarly affected, with critical infrastructure and government databases, such as Kenya’s Urban Roads Authority and Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics, falling victim to sophisticated breaches.

Business Email Compromise (BEC) incidents have surged as well, with 11 African nations identified as primary sources of such fraud, often linked to transnational criminal syndicates like Black Axe in West Africa.

Additionally, digital sextortion cases, involving blackmail with real or AI-generated explicit content, have risen by 60% among member countries.

Law Enforcement Struggles

Despite the escalating cyberthreats, law enforcement capabilities across Africa remain woefully inadequate to counter the sophisticated tactics of cybercriminals.

The report reveals that 90% of African countries acknowledge a dire need for significant improvements in prosecution and enforcement capacities, with 75% citing outdated legal frameworks.

Resource constraints, insufficient training, and a lack of specialized tools hinder effective responses, as noted by 95% of surveyed nations.

Basic IT infrastructure for combating cybercrime is also scarce only 30% of countries possess incident reporting systems, 29% have digital evidence repositories, and a mere 19% maintain cyberthreat intelligence databases.

International cooperation, critical for tackling cross-border cybercrime, is deemed inadequate by 86% of countries due to slow formal processes and limited access to global platforms, while 89% struggle with private-sector collaboration due to unclear engagement channels.

Despite these challenges, some African nations have made strides in bolstering cyber resilience by aligning cybersecurity laws with international norms and investing in specialized units and digital forensics.

INTERPOL’s coordinated operations, such as Operation Serengeti and Operation Red Card, have yielded over 1,000 arrests and dismantled numerous malicious networks, showcasing the potential of enhanced operational capacity.

The report proposes six strategic recommendations, including strengthening regional and international cooperation, boosting public awareness, and adopting emerging technologies to fortify Africa’s defenses against this digital onslaught.

As part of the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) initiative, supported by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, INTERPOL continues to drive efforts to empower African law enforcement in preventing, detecting, and disrupting cybercrime.

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