Kaspersky Lab, an international IT and Online security company, conducted research into the evolution of IT threats in 2013 using information from their Kaspersky Security Network cloud service. From the results, the cyber security company found that Middle East, Turkey and Africa experienced around 50% Year-on-Year growth of IT-related security incidents. The results were released during the company’s annual Security Analysis Summit, held in Budapest, Hungary.
In South Africa, the numbers from the survey indicate that there were at least 3.9-million online threats detected in 2013, while 36.8% of users were affected by an online threat. In terms of local threats, 26.2% of South Africans were affected by 17.6-million local threats.
According to Kaspersky Lab research, the picture is slightly better in Nigeria. While 3% of malicious apps and programs in Africa originate from Nigeria, only 20.3% of users were affected from 3.6-million local threats. In terms of international threats reaching Nigeria, 42.5% of users were affected.
“In Africa in the last year Kaspersky Lab products neutralized more than 214-million cyber-crime attacks and infections on user devices compared to 140-million in 2012. According to research, the main sources of threats are still networks and removable media such as USB drives and DVDs,” Kaspersky Lab explained.
In Kenya, 42% of users were affected by 2.1-million attacks, but 23.7% of users were saved from infection by Kaspersky Lab products as 9.8-million attacks were blocked.
According to Kaspersky Lab, the largest problem in Africa is Algeria. “Algeria appears to have the highest internet-borne incident rate in the region with 21.7-million incidents affection 39% of users in the country. Algeria also has the highest number of local incidents with 32.5-million blocked attacks involving 46% of users. But Sudan holds the highest rate for users affected by local threats at 57.9-million,” Kaspersky Lab explained.
Other countries in the Kaspersky Security Network cloud service:
Morocco
Online threat detections: 5.2-million
Users affected: 49.2%
Local threat detections: 22.9-million
Users affected: 31.7%
Libya
Online threat detections: 2.7-million
Users affected: 50.6%
Local threat detections: 6.8-million
Users affected: 37.4%
Egypt
Online threat detections: 5.9-million
Users affected: 51.3%
Local threat detections: 22.6-million
Users affected: 27.2%
Tunisia
Online threat detections: 3.2-million
Users affected: 50%
Local threat detections: 8-million
Users affected: 37.3%
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
