Monday, October 13, 2025 - Africa has been ranked as the most targeted region for cyberattacks globally, with organizations on the continent facing an average of 2,902 attacks per week in September, according to the latest report from Check Point Research.
The Global Threat Intelligence Report by Check Point
Research, the threat intelligence arm of Check Point Software Technologies
Ltd., revealed that telecommunications, government, and consumer goods and
services sectors were the most targeted industries across Africa.
According to the report, Angola recorded the highest number
of weekly attacks with 3,045 per organization, followed by Kenya with 3,000,
Nigeria with 2,749, and South Africa with 2,054.
Regional Director for Africa at Check Point Software
Technologies, Lorna Hardie, said many of the attacks were linked to the growing
use of generative artificial intelligence.
“As Africans, we are deeply concerned about the continent’s
vulnerability to cyberattacks, especially as many of the incidents in September
were prompted by the use of generative AI,” Hardie said.
“The only sustainable defence is a prevention-first strategy
powered by real-time AI, ensuring protection across the network, cloud,
endpoints, and identities.”
Globally, organizations faced an average of 1,900
cyberattacks per week in September, highlighting the scale of Africa’s exposure
relative to other regions.
Check Point Research said the rise in GenAI tools across
enterprises has introduced new risks, with one in every 54 AI prompts posing a
high risk of sensitive data leakage. The report added that 91 per cent of organizations
using GenAI tools regularly were affected by such risks, while 15 per cent of
prompts contained potentially sensitive information, such as customer details
or proprietary code.
Data Research Manager at Check Point Research, Omer
Dembinsky, said the overall number of attacks had eased slightly, but their
impact and sophistication continued to intensify
“September’s threat data shows that while the overall volume
of attacks has eased slightly, the impact and sophistication of cyber threats
are intensifying,” Dembinsky said. “Ransomware remains the most destructive
force, while the emergence of GenAI-related data leakage adds a new dimension
of risk for organizations.”
The report also showed that the education sector remained
the most targeted globally, experiencing an average of 4,175 weekly attacks per
organisation, followed by the telecommunications and government sectors with
2,703 and 2,512 attacks, respectively.
While Africa recorded the highest regional average, other
parts of the world were not spared. Latin America reported 2,826 weekly attacks
per organization, followed by Asia-Pacific with 2,668, Europe with 1,577, and
North America with 1,468, the latter recording a 17 per cent year-on-year surge
driven by ransomware incidents.
Ransomware accounted for 562 publicly reported incidents
globally in September, marking a 46 per cent increase year-on-year. North
America was the most affected, representing 54 per cent of all reported cases,
while Europe accounted for 19 per cent.
The report identified Qilin, Play, and Akira as the leading
ransomware groups, collectively responsible for over 30 per cent of known
attacks.
Qilin, one of the most active Ransomware-as-a-service
groups, continues to expand aggressively, while Play and Akira increasingly
target manufacturing and business services using advanced encryption methods.
Check Point warned that the rising integration of GenAI into
enterprise environments required stronger governance and proactive
cybersecurity frameworks to prevent data exposure.
“Only through a prevention-first approach can organizations
stay ahead and protect critical operations from relentless adversaries,” Ms.
Hardie said.
Check Point Software Technologies, a Nasdaq-listed
cybersecurity firm, provides AI-powered solutions protecting more than 100,000 organizations
worldwide through its Infinity Platform and threat intelligence network,
ThreatCloud.
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