RUSSIAN software developer Kaspersky Lab is opening an office in Johannesburg to sell and support its antivirus and internet security software, in expectation of a growing demand from Africa as undersea cables finally deliver faster and cheaper bandwidth.
The office will initially be managed by Garry Kondakov, its MD for about 100 countries across Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “We are already well established in Africa and have a big opportunity here. We are not starting from scratch, we are coming here to support our current business,” he said.
“We’ve been listening to our customers and partners and the next logical step is opening a direct presence in SA.”
Last year Kaspersky grew its business by more than 100% in Africa, and is one of the top three suppliers of antivirus software for consumers in many African countries, and the top supplier to corporate clients in Kenya.
Up to 10 people will be employed for its local office in the coming year. They will work to grow its distribution channel, which includes retail outlets such as Incredible Connection, and they will be responsible for a region stretching up to Nigeria.
Moscow-based Kaspersky now has offices in 26 countries serving 250-million customers.
Chief security expert Costin Raiu said its labs detected an average of 30000 new threats each day, and African internet users were now at greater risk because their access to bandwidth was improving.
The Seacom fibre-optic cable links Africa to India, France and the UK, and those three countries “top the charts” for generating internet attacks. “There are obviously a lot of advantages of having high-speed internet connectivity for Africa with cheaper prices and there will be a boom in online commerce,” he said.
But that will see more file- sharing between users and more people downloading pirated software. “In any country with a low income the piracy rate is high and the vast majority of pirated software is infected.”
Cybercriminals would also capitalise on next year’s Soccer World Cup by infecting sites related to the event. Users who visit those sites could have a virus downloaded onto their computer, which could corrupt its files, steal information or control the machine to launch spam attacks on other computers.
Experts at software security company Symantec expect SA to surge up the cybercrime rankings as Seacom increases its international bandwidth 50-fold. As prices fall, millions of new users will connect to the internet via unprotected devices.
Egypt did not appear in the ranks of cybercrime activities in 2007, but shot straight to number one in the Middle East and Africa for malicious activity last year after internet connectivity was made a priority by the Egyptian government.
Rapidly growing broadband penetration was dangerous as many companies and individuals were not security-savvy enough to recognise the risks and repel attacks. Newly connected but unprotected computers would be rapidly compromised and used to launch attacks on other computers across the globe, said Gordon Love, Symantec’s director for Africa.
There would be a dramatic surge in cybercrime once SA started to experience faster broadband speeds at cheaper prices. “Businesses need to effectively educate new users about potential online risks and adequately protect new computers before connecting them to the internet,” said Love.
stonesl@bdfm.co.za