New Telegraph 
According to a recent survey conducted by KnowBe4 AFRICA, 58 per cent of respondents are very concerned about cybercrime, a figure which has almost doubled from 29 per cent in 2023.
Fear of online fraud and losing money remains their top concern, given the increasing sophistication of AI-assisted cyberthreats.
The cybersecurity landscape in Africa is rapidly evolving and presents both significant challenges and opportunities.
Africa has seen a notable increase in cybercrime, with ransomware, digital extortion and online scams being particularly prevalent.
South Africa, for instance, lost $3 billion to digital banking and mobile app crime in 2023, according to the SA Banking Risk Information Centre.
Cybercriminals are using increasingly sophisticated methods, including AI-generated content to impersonate officials and executives, while social engineering attacks become more advanced.
In response to these concerns, KnowBe4 conducted a survey to determine how prepared Africans are for cybersecurity threats.
The survey, which has been done annually since 2019, polled 800 adults across seven African countries: Morocco, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Egypt, Kenya and Botswana.
“The goal of the survey was to assess respondents’ cybersecurity awareness, digital habits and online security practices,” says Anna Collard, SVP Content Strategy and Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA.
“Many challenges remain the same, but some are new, such as the alarming rise of deepfake technology,” she added. One of the survey’s key findings is that the Africans are more concerned about cybercrime than they were two years ago.
The percentage of respondents who said they were “very concerned” about cybercrime almost doubled to 58 per cent in 2025, compared to 29 per cent in 2023.
Fear of online fraud and losing money remained their top concern. Another important insight is that the use of smart phones in Africa is on the rise. Mobile data usage increased from 71 per cent in 2023 to 75 per cent in 2025.
Added to this was the fact that the use of mobile financial services, both for payments and banking, increased significantly from 63 per cent to 85 per cent.
“The rise in mobile banking and payments indicates greater financial inclusion through digital means, which is generally positive for economic development in Africa,” asserts Collard.
“However, an increase in mobile banking and payments also increases the attack surface for cybercriminals, which underscores the importance of mobile-centric security education,” Collard explained.
A further interesting trend is that although WhatsApp is traditionally used for sharing messages with friends and family, work-related usage of WhatsApp increased slightly from 89 per cent in the previous poll to 93 per cent in this year’s survey.
Other popular apps used by respondents for work were email, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Zoom. According to Collard, “the increase in WhatsApp usage for work shows a further blurring of lines between users’ personal and professional lives.
This can lead to increased risks, as personal devices may not have the same level of security as corporate-managed devices.”
A worrying trend that emerged is the level of ease with which Af rican users give away their personal information.
The percentage of respondents “very unlikely” to give away personal information almost halved from 29 per cent in 2023 to 14 per cent in 2025.
The survey found that 14 per cent of respondents are comfortable sharing personal information, with eight per cent saying they are likely to do so if they can get something in return, such as a discount, and six per cent saying they share personal information all the time.
“This is a concerning trend and reveals the need for more training on personal security,” asserts Collard. “This is further emphasised by the lack of understanding among respondents about what consitutes a strong password and multifactor authentication,” she said.
Understanding of strong pass – words slightly decreased from 62 per cent in 2023 to 58 per cent in 2025, while comprehension of multi-factor authentication remained stable at around 58 per cent.
“The latest survey aims to identify key vulnerabilities that should be a priority for individuals, organisations and policy makers,” Collard said.
