A recent KPMG report makes for disturbing reading, finding that nearly a third of African CEOs identify cybersecurity and data security as risks to growth, while only 45% are increasing investment to counter the threat amid rising cyberattacks globally.
Last week’s $6.3bn heist against Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange with enormous financial resources and sophisticated security systems, makes clear the threat is real and increasing rapidly, aided by the use of AI. The likelihood of such an attack knocking on Africa’s door one day is not beyond the realms of possibility.
The KPMG report follows several others highlighting the continent’s vulnerability to cybercrime, including a study by Check Point Software last year which found that cyberattacks on African organisations had surged well above the global average.
This leaves the continent increasingly exposed to sophisticated cybercriminals, including state-sponsored groups and organised criminal networks.
And yet there is not much evidence that African countries, individually or in unity, are sufficiently alive to the dangers.
In South Africa, where the government is grappling with myriad problems, including dysfunctional municipalities that have failed to provide basic services to millions of increasingly angry residents, fortifying the country against cyberattacks appears to rank relatively low among national priorities.
And yet recent global events make clear that increasing our armour against cybercrime deserves significantly more attention.
KPMG’s report coincided with a scramble by companies and governments worldwide, including South Africa’s presidency, to patch critical vulnerabilities in PHP, a widely used programming language, after a cybersecurity firm reported millions of hacking attempts following their disclosure.
Interpol’s 2026 African cyberthreat assessment report says the continent experienced an intensification of cyberthreats driven by rapid digital transformation, persistent capacity deficits, and the increasing exploitation of emerging technologies — particularly AI — last year.
This has created an environment in which criminal actors operate with greater speed, scale and sophistication, often exploiting jurisdictional fragmentation and institutional gaps to evade detection and prosecution.
It says South Africa accounted for 92% of all ransomware detections, with incidents affecting critical infrastructure such as the national weather service and national carrier SAA.
It warns that despite having the most mature regulatory frameworks, including South Africa’s Cybersecurity Act and Mauritius’ Digital Transformation Blueprint, the Southern African region’s institutions remain vulnerable to the speed and scale of AI-enabled attacks.
Binance is still standing after last week’s $6.3bn theft and the billions more that customers have withdrawn since the heist. That amount would be devastating for any African nation, including South Africa.
The amounts that the country is already losing to cybercrime are not to be sniffed at either.
The South African Banking Risk Information Centre’s 2025 annual banking crime statistics report reveals that losses from digital banking crime increased to R2.4bn last year from approximately R1.9bn in 2024.
The Communication Risk Information Centre earlier this year revealed that cybercrimes cost local telecoms operators more than R5bn in 2025.
These rand amounts might seem like small change relative to Binance’s $6.3bn blow, but these are losses an economy like ours, with all its pressing needs, cannot afford to brush aside.
The gravity of the threat requires a co-ordinated public-private sector response, instead of the piecemeal responses that we have seen so far, particularly in the banking sector.
And we certainly need more than the mere 45% of African company executives making the financial sacrifice needed to combat the ever-evolving enemy we face.
Business Day
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.