Africa’s cyber threat landscape is becoming increasingly sophisticated, with cybercriminals deploying advanced technologies and organised crime networks to target governments, businesses, financial institutions and individuals across the continent.
According to INTERPOL’s African Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2026, the rapid growth of Africa’s digital economy has created new opportunities for cybercrime, underscoring the need for stronger regional collaboration, enhanced cybersecurity capabilities and increased public awareness.
The report identifies seven major cyber threats confronting the continent:
1. Ransomware attacks
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting governments, public institutions and critical infrastructure by encrypting victims’ data and demanding ransom payments to restore access.
2. Business Email Compromise (BEC)
Fraudsters impersonate company executives, suppliers or trusted partners through fake emails to deceive businesses into transferring funds or revealing confidential information.
3. Organised online scam centres
Large criminal networks are operating scam centres involved in investment fraud, romance scams, phishing and other online fraud schemes. INTERPOL says many of these operations are also linked to human trafficking and forced labour.
4. Mobile money fraud
As digital payments become more widespread, cybercriminals are exploiting mobile money platforms through phishing, SIM-swap attacks, fake promotions and social engineering to steal money from users.
5. AI-enabled digital sextortion
Criminals are using artificial intelligence and deepfake technology to generate fake intimate images from victims’ social media photos before demanding ransom or threatening to publish the fabricated content.
6. Data breaches and identity theft
Stolen personal and financial information is increasingly being sold on the dark web and used to facilitate identity theft, phishing attacks, financial fraud and ransomware campaigns.
7. AI-powered cybercrime and Cybercrime-as-a-Service
The report warns that criminals are leveraging artificial intelligence to automate phishing attacks, generate convincing deepfakes, create synthetic identities and develop more sophisticated malware. At the same time, Cybercrime-as-a-Service platforms are making hacking tools and services readily available to individuals with little or no technical expertise, significantly lowering the barrier to cybercrime.
INTERPOL urged African governments, law enforcement agencies, businesses and individuals to strengthen cybersecurity measures, improve information sharing and invest in digital resilience to combat the evolving cyber threat landscape.
ALSO:
