Cyberthreat Trends: Infostealers & Ransomware on the Rise in South Africa
The digital landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly South Africa, is facing an intensifying wave of cyber threats, with infostealers and ransomware emerging as dominant concerns. Data from Kaspersky for the first half of 2025 (H1 2025) paints a stark picture, revealing a significant escalation in malicious activities targeting both individuals and critical infrastructure across the region. This surge underscores an urgent need for enhanced cybersecurity measures.
# Escalating Cyber Attacks Across Sub-Saharan Africa and South Africa
During H1 2025, Sub-Saharan Africa experienced a staggering 42.4 million web attacks and 95.6 million on-device attacks. The period also saw a more than double increase in spyware detections, a 64% rise in password stealer attacks, and a 12% increase in backdoor infections compared to the previous year’s same period. This regional trend is sharply reflected in South Africa, where Kaspersky security tools blocked over 6 million online attack attempts on users in H1 2025. These pervasive online threats included phishing scams, sophisticated exploits, botnets, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) attacks, and network spoofing tactics like fake Wi-Fi networks. Alarmingly, one in five users in the country, or 20.9%, were targeted by such attempts. Concurrently, 10.3 million on-device incidents were thwarted in South Africa, with 21.2% of users encountering malware delivered via vectors such as infected USB drives, CDs, DVDs, and hidden installers. The malware encountered ranged from ransomware and worms to backdoors, trojans, password stealers, and spyware – the very infostealers showing a significant rise. Furthermore, industrial environments are not immune, with attacks detected on 27.7% of Industrial Control (IC) systems.
The persistent and evolving nature of cyber threats, particularly the growing prevalence of infostealers and ransomware, poses a critical challenge for South African users and organizations. The substantial figures from Kaspersky highlight that robust, multi-layered cybersecurity strategies are no longer optional but essential. Protecting against these threats requires continuous vigilance, user education, and advanced security solutions to safeguard personal data, financial assets, and vital industrial operations from increasingly sophisticated digital adversaries.
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