south africa's digital future hindered by rising cyber threats

South Africa has always held the acclaim of being one of the continent's largest economies and is still the most diversified economy in Africa. With the eyes of the world focused on South Africa in 2025 ' owing to its G20 presidency ' there are significant expectations that South Africa will resolve its economic issues and position itself as a digital economy from which the world can learn lessons. However, MANCOSA points out that this expectation may be more challenging to achieve than many believe.

"It is true that South Africa is a significant role player in digital connectivity on the continent. However, we are one of the most targeted countries in the world in terms of cybercrime, and while we have developed a legal framework that can deal with cyber risks, is this framework agile enough to pivot in line with growing trends?" asks Trisha Govender, Manager: MANCOSA School of Information and Digital Technology (SIDT).

According to the 2024 Interpol African Cyberthreat Assessment Report (which reflects on 2023 digital trends), the INTERPOL member countries identified ransomware and digital extortion as one of the most serious cyber threats faced by the African continent. Such attacks are of particular concern due to their high financial impact, their ability to severely disrupt critical infrastructure and essential services, and the harm they can cause to the organisations and individuals affected.

The volume, frequency, and impact of ransomware attacks continue to grow in Africa. Research from cyber security firm Check Point suggests that on average, one out of every 15 organisations in Africa experienced a ransomware attempt every week during the first quarter of 2023. This is even higher than the global weekly average, which stood at about 1 in every 31 organisations.

During a single week in February 2023, INTERPOL private partner Kaspersky detected over 300 cases of ransomware attempts in South Africa, which illustrates the increasing frequency of attacks. The financial impact of attacks also appears to be on the rise: according to IBM, the average ransomware attack cost in 2023 was $5.13 million, which is a 13% increase over 2022.