INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Enterprise Security
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MD presents cybersecurity
awareness report
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A
nna Collard, the Managing Director
of KnowBe4 Africa, a specialist in
cybersecurity awareness training,
was in Mauritius to present The 2019
KnowBe4 African Cybersecurity Awareness
Report with over 800 respondents across
eight countries in Africa: South Africa, Kenya,
Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Morocco, Mauritius
and Botswana. The survey revealed the
pressing need to educate Africans to the
different cyberattacks. The key finding of the
report are as follows:
• 53% of Africans surveyed think that
trusting emails from people they know is
good enough
• 64% didn’t know what ransomware is,
yet they believe they can easily identify a
security threat
• 28% have fallen for a phishing email and
50% have had a malware infection
• 52% don’t know what multi-factor
authentication is
“The results proved that respondents’
confidence was based on the little they
knew about cyber-attacks and it is where
the problem lies,” said Collard. “Africans are
not prepared for these threats, making them
increasingly easy prey to cybercriminals.”
According to Business Insider SA, 525 million
Africans were connected to the Internet in
June 2019 – representing 40% of Africa’s
total population. This number is expected
to grow to a billion people by 2022. As
connectivity improves, users are faced with
increasing cyberattacks. In fact, Africa has
been among the fastest growing regions in
terms of cybercrime activities.
When it comes more specifically to Mauritius,
Anna Collard said: “It is one of the best
prepared countries compared to other African
countries with a government prioritising the
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INTELLIGENTCIO
their attention towards the continent and
other emerging economies,” said Collard.
Many criminals consider Africa a safe haven
for their illegal operations, as many African
governments need to attend to other
pressing issues such as fighting poverty,
unstable politics, violent crime and large
youth unemployment and still regard
cybersecurity as a luxury, not a necessity.
Anna Collard, the Managing Director of
KnowBe4 Africa
ICT sector and a vision to transform Mauritius
into a Smart island by 2030.
“Mauritius is one of only a handful of
countries on the continent with a legal
framework in place to combat cybercrime.”
The Global Security Index (GCI) shows
that Mauritius is ranked among the top
10 most committed countries globally
and first in Africa. In addition, the survey
showed a slightly higher awareness from
Mauritian respondents when compared to
other countries. In fact, more than half of
respondents in Botswana, Egypt, Kenya,
Ghana, Morocco and Mauritius have enough
security smarts to avoid clicking on links or
opening attachments they don’t expect.
However, the top five cybercrimes, financial
fraud, impersonation scams, business email
compromise, extortion attacks and DDOS
attacks on critical infrastructure are expected
to rise in the coming years.
“What makes Africa different to the rest of
the world is that cybercriminals are shifting
In many organisations, cybersecurity
budgets are reported to be less than 1%
or are non-existent. Africa also faces the
problem of a serious skill shortage of security
professionals as well as a lack of awareness
and skills among the general user population
to protect them online. Many African
Internet users are connecting to the Internet
for the first time and with the sharp increase
in the next few years you are looking at
millions of people connecting without
understanding the risks.
Another reason for why Africa is so attractive
to cybercriminals is the lack of legislation
and law enforcement. According to a report
by the African Union, only about 20% of
African states have basic legal frameworks to
deal with cybercrime.
Kenya, South Africa and Mauritius are
probably the most advanced in this regard
and Nigeria is coming up fast.
“We have analysed the phish prone %
(meaning user’s susceptibility to phishing)
across our 25,000 plus customers and
nine million end users around the world at
KnowBe4 and results proved that what starts
off with a 30% baseline hit rate is lowered
by half to 15% in three months and down to
only 2% 12 months later, showing a serious
and measurable improvement and risk
reduction,” added Collard. n
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