Here Are the Top IT Security Threats Prevalent in Africa, Warns Kaspersky

Global cybersecurity solutions company Kaspersky has warned of top IT security threats in Africa that are most likely to target companies in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria. During the last 7-8 months, the instances of security threats have increased exponentially in Africa due to mushrooming Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) groups. APT groups are better prepared with technology when it comes to exploiting the current uncertainty around COVID-19 and to steal sensitive information using stealth and coercive tactics.

Top Findings in IT Security Threats Assessment

Government, Healthcare and Military Under Perennial Threat of Losing to Cyber Security Lapses

The top industries under attack in Sub-Saharan Africa in H1 2020 include government, education, healthcare, and military. While government and military present compelling – and obvious – targets, education and healthcare are often used as pivot points to gain access to other institutions. Sometimes, an entity is a victim while other times it is the target.

The top three threat actors in these regions in this regard are TransparentTribe, Oilrig, and MuddyWater.

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Says Maher Yamout, Senior Security Research, Global Research & Analysis Team at Kaspersky; “The remainder of the year will likely see APT groups and hacking-for-hire threat actors increase in prominence across the globe. Africa will continue to see more sophisticated APTs emerge and we also suspect that the hacking-for-hire actor type could target companies in Africa in the future. We also anticipate that cybercriminals will increase targeted ransomware deployment using different ways. These can range from trojanized cracked software to exploitation across the supply chain of the targeted industry. Data breaches will certainly become more commonplace especially as people will continue to work remotely for the foreseeable future while exposing their systems to the Internet without adequate protection.”

APTs Evolving Faster than Expected

Despite research showing an overall decrease in certain malware families and types in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) in H1 2020 (36% decrease in South Africa, 26% decrease in Kenya and a 2.7% decrease in Nigeria), Kaspersky, in Africa, stresses that the human cyber threat remains rife, where Africa is not immune to the evolving techniques of Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), as well as the possibilities of being a future target of hacking-for-hire threat actor groups.

In a recent report, it was found that APTs such as Quarian (consisting of Chinese-speaking threat actors) were active in Middle Eastern and African regions, targeting high-value government installations. They mostly targeted ME-based diplomatic centers.

Kaspersky research has found that globally, APT groups are evolving their techniques and are upgrading their toolset to continue stealing sensitive information. Furthermore, Kaspersky has seen a rise of hackers-for-hire or cyber mercenaries during the first two quarters of 2020. In fact, three cyber mercenary groups have been exposed across the world this year alone.

Time to Predict Emerging Threats Beforehand

In South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria, APT groups are exploiting the current uncertainty around COVID-19 to steal sensitive information.

More sophisticated techniques have emerged that delivers malware in non-conventional ways. While overall malware attacks in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria decreased during the first two quarters of 2020, certain malware types, such as the STOP ransomware, are proving increasingly popular for certain cybercriminals. The same applies to financial malware in South Africa and Nigeria as examples. So, even though it decreased in these countries, certain financial malware types are gaining in popularity thanks to their unique techniques which these groups are exploiting to monetize data. This emphasizes that attacks are becoming more targeted and at specific companies, in specific regions and for specific purposes.

As this activity has taken place outside of Africa, Kaspersky suspects that these types of actors may have been somewhat forgotten and do not necessarily form part of cyber defense strategies. However, the region may become a focus of these groups in the coming months and thus, businesses and entities need to have an understanding of these emerging threats, along with the threat of APTs, to be prepared and take proactive steps towards effective cybersecurity.

Hackers-for-hire or cyber mercenaries do not necessarily have monetary motivations like traditional cybercrime. Instead, they steal private data to monetize it in a different way – usually for the purpose of providing advice or insights, based on the data, to share the value of the competitive advantage.

For example, a bank might get targeted and have its data analyzed to gain an understanding of its market exposure, clients, and back-end systems. A competitor can use that to gain significant benefits. The reality is that in this evolving cyberthreat landscape, no company or government institution can consider themselves safe.

Prevention is Better than Cure. Detection is the Best Though in a Security Context

While prevention is ideal, detection is a must.

Realistically, no organization or government department can prevent everything. But if there is an understanding of the technology environment and having the ability to detect any deviation from the baseline, decision-makers will go to great strides in mitigating the risk of compromise and by understanding the threat dynamics, organizations can better protect themselves from evolving cyberattacks.

Currently, Kaspersky’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into innovative security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. It provides a comprehensive security portfolio that includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats.