Kenya ranked as the second most attacked country in Africa in September, according to the Global Threat Intelligence Report by Check Point Research. Angola topped the list with an average of 3,045 weekly cyberattacks per organization, while Kenya followed closely with 3,000.
Despite the high figures, Kenya recorded a 21% year-on-year (YoY) decline in attacks, suggesting modest improvement compared to the same period last year.
Angola saw a sharper drop of 54% while Nigeria’s attacks fell by 32%. However, South Africa experienced a 26% increase. Globally, enterprises faced an average of 1,900 cyberattacks per week, but Africa’s average was much higher at around 2,902 per organization.
This indicates the continent’s position as a key target for cybercriminals, often due to weaker security infrastructures and the rapid adoption of digital services across financial and government systems.
The report raised new concerns about how generative AI could expose sensitive data. It found that one in every 54 AI prompts from enterprise environments carried a high risk of leaking confidential information, impacting 91 percent of organizations that use AI tools regularly. Another 15 percent of prompts were found to include potentially sensitive data.
Lorna Hardie, Regional Director for Africa at Check Point, said she was alarmed by how AI is shaping new avenues for cyberattacks.
“We are deeply concerned about the continent’s vulnerability to cyberattacks, especially as many of the attacks in September were prompted by the use of Generative AI,” she said.
“The only sustainable defense is a prevention-first strategy powered by real-time AI, ensuring protection across the network, cloud, endpoints, and identities. Only through this approach can organizations stay ahead and protect critical operations from relentless adversaries.”
For Kenya, these findings, alongside other reports continue to indicate the urgent need to strengthen cybersecurity frameworks, enhance public awareness, and invest in capacity building.
