By the year 2025, the cost of cybercrime is predicted to skyrocket to $12 trillion globally, according to the recent findings from the Computer Crime Research Center (CCRC). This alarming projection highlights that South Asia, particularly India, and Oceania are expected to face a surge of cyber attacks, which is said to be driven by the shift in growing economies, exemplified by Nigeria and other African nations. In the near future, Cyber Extortion is expected to persist as a prominent issue, showcasing a surge of 30-50 percent. Its impact predominantly targets corporations, Small to Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs), and government entities across a wide spectrum of cases.
According to the CCRC report, the projection not only relies on external market data but also takes into account cybersecurity research conducted by CheckPoint and Orange Cyberdefense. Both sources have observed a steady increase in cyberattacks and ransomware throughout the previous year. The potential surge in Cybercrime expenses is a prime concern, largely due to the escalation in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven attacks and a staggering 910% rise in monthly domain registrations associated with ChatGPT, encompassing both harmless and malicious domains. These registrations primarily aim at imitating ChatGPT’s capabilities.
Businesses that employ AI face the peril of novel cyberattacks.
Specifically, the CCRC has emphasized the expansion of the threat landscape concerning AI. Attackers are employing advanced linguistic methods like amplifying the amount of text, utilizing intricate punctuation, and lengthening sentences. This alarming trend indicates that Generative AI enables malicious individuals to generate intricate and focused attacks rapidly and on a large scale. 2024 till 2025, the market is expected to pose a substantial risk to those who utilize AI to enhance and operate their forefront toolkits.
The integration of AI will revolutionize the creation of malware and ransomware, enabling faster and cheaper development of new variants. In addition, the advancements in deepfake technologies will elevate phishing and impersonation attacks to unprecedented levels. While businesses will readily embrace AI, they will also face the peril of novel cyberattacks facilitated by this technology. Also, the dynamic nature of AI-driven attacks poses a significant challenge to traditional defense mechanisms, potentially rendering them useless. The report highlighted the extensive and diverse range of cyber threat incidents that occurred last year, affecting both organizations and government entities.
Cyberattacks on businesses in Africa is a concern for enterprises.
As per the report, cybersecurity has become a matter of utmost importance at the board level. However, it stressed the necessity for a more significant engagement by executive board members in terms of overseeing cybersecurity risk management and establishing committees to mitigate the potential threats faced by businesses or governmental organizations. Various industries including manufacturing, retail, professional services, finance, and utilities were identified as particularly susceptible to such risks. This is mainly due to their outdated network infrastructure, technological immaturity and open vulnerabilities.
There is a forecasted heightened prevalence of hacktivism in 2024, with hackers persistently targeting either corporations or government bodies that endorse specific entities for political reasons. The favored method employed in such attacks remains the distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), mainly due to its immense potential to disrupt business operations. Moreover, the escalating incidence of cyberattacks targeting businesses in Africa has heightened the significance of cybersecurity, making it an imperative concern for all enterprises. Kaspersky, the multinational cybersecurity firm, disclosed in Q1 of 2023 that Nigeria, South Africa, and Kenya are the primary countries facing the most severe cyber threat within the African continent.
Related Article: Cybercrime a threat to Africa digital space
A report by African Business in February 2023, revealed that 90% of businesses in Africa had not implemented any cybersecurity measures, leaving them highly susceptible to cyber dangers such as hacking, phishing, and malware assaults. A 2023 report further indicated that, for the consecutive year, executives from financial institutions in Africa have ranked cybersecurity as the utmost concern across all risk factors in the realm of financial services. According to the 2023 African Financial Industry Barometer survey, 74% of participants expressed belief that there is a need for improvement within the cybersecurity regulations.