Nigeria has emerged as Africa’s most targeted nation for cyberattacks, with organizations experiencing an average of 4,701 cyber incidents per week in January 2026, according to the latest findings from Check Point Research’s Global Threat Intelligence report.
The weekly attack figure marks a 12% increase compared to the same period last year and climbs from the 4,622 attacks recorded in December 2025. This escalation places significant pressure on Africa’s largest economy as it continues its digital transformation journey.
Nigeria Exceeds Continental Average
Nigerian organizations face considerably more cyber threats than the African average of 2,864 attacks per organization weekly. The country’s figures surpass those of the three other African nations analyzed in the report.
Check Point Research’s data reveals that global organizations encountered an average of 2,090 cyberattacks per week in January—a 3% monthly increase and 17% year-over-year jump that signals persistent growth in worldwide cyber threats.
Angola recorded the second-highest attack rate in Africa at 4,512 incidents per organization weekly, though this represents a 7% year-over-year decrease. Kenya and South Africa reported 2,172 and 2,145 weekly attacks respectively, with Kenya seeing a 41% year-over-year drop while South Africa experienced a 36% increase.
While Africa’s overall average declined 6% year-over-year, this masks considerable variation between countries, with Nigeria and South Africa both experiencing substantial upticks.
Most Vulnerable Sectors Identified
Government agencies, financial services firms, and consumer goods and services companies emerged as the primary targets across Africa—sectors handling sensitive citizen information, financial transactions, and essential supply chains.
Ian van Rensburg, Head of Security Engineering for Africa at Check Point Software Technologies, emphasized that the data reflects both expanding scale and growing sophistication in cyber threats.
“January’s data shows that cyber-attacks are not only increasing but becoming more refined and opportunistic,” van Rensburg noted. He stressed that African organizations pursuing digital transformation must ensure their cybersecurity infrastructure evolves alongside technological advancement.
“Unchecked GenAI usage is opening new blind spots for organisations. Prevention first, real time protection powered by AI is the only effective way to stop attacks before they cause operational or financial damage,” he added.
Generative AI Tools Present New Security Challenges
The report identified rapid adoption of Generative AI platforms as an emerging security concern. Check Point found that one in every 30 GenAI prompts submitted from corporate networks in January carried significant risk of exposing confidential data.
Key findings include:
- 93% of organizations using GenAI tools faced exposure risks
- Prompts commonly contained internal documents, personal identifiers, customer data, and proprietary source code
- Organizations utilized an average of 10 different GenAI tools monthly, with many operating outside official governance frameworks
This dispersed usage pattern heightens the risk of inadvertent data breaches, ransomware attacks, and AI-powered cyber incidents, particularly in markets like Nigeria where digital adoption accelerates across banking, fintech, telecommunications, and public services.
Globally, the education sector remained the most frequently attacked industry, with institutions facing 4,364 weekly attacks per organization—a 12% year-over-year increase. Government entities experienced 2,759 weekly attacks, while telecommunications ranked third at 2,647 attacks weekly, highlighting mounting threats to connectivity infrastructure and 5G networks.
Government Response to Growing Threat
The surge in cyberattacks targeting Nigerian organizations has prompted government action.
Nairametrics previously reported that authorities plan to introduce a comprehensive cybersecurity framework this year to address rising AI-driven cyber threats against banks, businesses, and government agencies.
Kashifu Inuwa, Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency, revealed that the framework—scheduled for implementation later this year—will establish minimum cybersecurity spending requirements for organizations operating in Nigeria. He noted that many companies currently invest insufficiently in cybersecurity, operating under the assumption they are unlikely targets.
The framework will also mandate specific timeframes for reporting data breaches, create systems for sharing threat intelligence between public and private sectors, and establish coordinated response protocols for major cyber incidents.
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