NEWS
Global cyberattacks rise in January 2026 as ransomware activity increases and GenAI-driven data exposure expands
Check Point Research, the threat intelligence arm of Check
Point Software Technologies, has released its Global Threat Intelligence insights for January 2026, revealing organisations worldwide faced an average of 2,090 cyberattacks per week, a 3 % increase month-on-month and 17 % year-on-year.
Africa recorded an average of 2,864 attacks per organisation per week, down 6 % YoY. Nigeria experienced the highest volume at 4,701 weekly attacks per organisation, up 12 % YoY, followed by Angola with 4,512. Kenya recorded 2,172 attacks, down 41 % YoY, while South Africa saw 2,145 attacks per week, up 36 % YoY. Government, financial services and consumer goods and services were the most targeted sectors.
Ian van Rensburg, Head Security Engineering Africa at Check Point Software Technologies, said:“ January’ s data shows that cyberattacks are not only increasing but becoming more refined and opportunistic.”
The report highlights growing risks linked to Generative AI usage, with one in every 30 GenAI prompts posing a significant data exposure risk, affecting 93 % of organisations using such tools. Education remained the most targeted sector globally, followed by government and telecommunications.
Ransomware incidents rose 10 % year-on-year to 678 cases, with North America accounting for 52 % of reported attacks. Leading ransomware groups included Qilin, LockBit and Akira. iXAfrica Data Centres collaborates with Oracle to deliver Kenya’ s first public cloud region
iXAfrica Data Centre, East and Central Africa’ s largest hyperscale, carrier-neutral, AI-ready facility, will collaborate with Oracle as the host partner for the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure( OCI) region in Nairobi, Kenya.
Announced by H. E. President William Ruto in January 2024, this new public cloud region will help meet strong demand for OCI services in Kenya.
OCI’ s selection of iXAfrica as its colocation partner reflects its position as Kenya’ s most execution-ready hyperscale data centre facility.
Purpose-built to global cloud standards, iXAfrica combines carrier neutrality, high-density AI capability, resilient power architecture, and proximity to critical connectivity infrastructure. This makes it the only facility currently in the market capable of supporting immediate public cloud deployments at scale.
“ We are delighted to be in execution mode to bring OCI to Kenya,” said Snehar Shah, CEO, iXAfrica.“ With this collaboration, iXAfrica is leveraging the renewable energy, talent, and abundant submarine and national connectivity available in our market.”
“ Around the world, governments and enterprises rely on OCI for its security, scalability and ability to run mission-critical workloads that enable innovation at scale,” said David Bunei, Country Leader Kenya, Oracle.“ These unique capabilities and our collaboration with iXAfrica will further support the growth of the country’ s digital economy.” •
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