Nigeria, one of the most populous countries in the world, with over 200 million people, was missing at the 2025 Cyber Tech Global Conference hosted in Israel within the week.
The conference had representation from Spain, Republic Of Korea, Italy, United States Of America, Ghana, Kenya, just to mention a few participants.
This is worrisome considering that Nigeria, which had no representation at the conference, is one of the vulnerable countries to attacks in Africa.
Check Point Software Technologies, a cyber security platform provider, disclosed in its 2024 African Perspectives on Cyber Security Report that Nigeria is one of the most vulnerable to attacks on the continent.
The tech company further noted that a banking trojan attack compromised 100,000 customer accounts and resulted in $3 million in losses in recent times in Nigeria.
It said Nigeria has witnessed a sharp rise in cyber attacks and this growth has been recorded on the back of a growing digital economy, with more people coming online and becoming more vulnerable to hackers.
Financial institutions in the country have been the most prone to attacks. According to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), fraudsters successfully scammed over 80,658 bank customers in 2023, and bank customers lost N59.33 billion between 2019 and 2023.
Acting country manager for South Africa at Check Point Software Technologies, Lionel Dartnall, said: “The rapid digitalisation of Africa’s key sectors has positioned the continent as a prime target for sophisticated cyber threats.”
In April 2024, Nigerian fintech company Flutterwave experienced a security breach that led to the unauthorised transfer of funds. While the company did not reveal the exact amount stolen, reports suggested that up to ₦11 billion (around $7 million) was compromised. The breach involved the routing of funds through several accounts in different financial institutions to evade detection. The attack prompted questions about the adequacy of security measures in Nigeria’s fintech sector.
Also, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in Nigeria was targeted by hackers in December 2024. The agency’s website was compromised and it displayed a blank page with the message “Page Hacked.” NBS confirmed the attack and assured the public that efforts were underway to restore the website and secure its data. This breach raised concerns about the vulnerability of government websites and their capacity to protect critical public data.
Aside from Nigeria, other African nations like South Africa, Kenya, and Morocco are facing targeted attacks on government, education, and financial institutions. This is because Africa’s economic growth is being driven by digital infrastructure, which has also brought increased vulnerability.
Head of Security Sales Engineering for Africa at Check Point Software Technologies, Issam El Haddioui, had called for proactive steps in Africa to bolster cybersecurity reailiance noting that “Now is the time for African organizations to take proactive steps to align with global standards and bolster their cybersecurity resilience.”
