African businesses are facing a growing cybersecurity challenge as cyberespionage activity increases across the continent, with attackers targeting organisations, sensitive information and digital infrastructure.
New findings presented by cybersecurity researchers at Kaspersky’s Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Türkiye and Africa (META) region show that while many cyberthreat categories declined over the past year, espionage-related threats continued to rise.
Across Africa, spyware attacks increased by 40% over the past year, while password stealer attacks grew by 31%, highlighting the growing focus on obtaining confidential information, authentication credentials and long-term access to compromised systems.
For businesses specifically, the increase has been even more significant. Spyware detections targeting organisations in Africa rose by 16%, password stealer attacks increased by 51%, and backdoor detections grew by 23%.
These threats are increasingly aimed at gaining persistent access to corporate environments, allowing attackers to collect valuable information, compromise accounts and prepare further attacks.
Why cyberespionage is becoming a business risk
Cyberespionage has traditionally been associated with governments and geopolitical conflicts. However, companies are increasingly becoming targets as valuable sources of commercial, operational and strategic information.
Businesses across sectors such as financial services, telecommunications, energy, logistics and technology hold large amounts of sensitive data, making them attractive targets for attackers seeking intellectual property, customer information and internal communications.
The growing use of cloud services, remote work systems and interconnected digital platforms has expanded the potential attack surface for organisations across Africa.
According to cybersecurity researchers, geopolitical tensions and regional conflicts remain important drivers of advanced persistent threat (APT) activity. In 2026, more than 20 APT groups were being tracked as actively targeting organisations across the META region.
Mobile devices become a major target
The threat is also expanding beyond traditional corporate systems.
As smartphones increasingly store business communications, financial information and authentication credentials, mobile devices have become valuable targets for cyberespionage campaigns.
In Africa, attacks involving password-stealing malware targeting individuals increased by 32% over the past year. Compromised credentials can later be used for account takeover, fraud, extortion or further attacks against organisations.
Security researchers have also warned that advanced mobile spyware campaigns are becoming more sophisticated, affecting both Android and iOS ecosystems.
The challenge for African companies
For many organisations, the biggest challenge is no longer simply preventing individual attacks but building resilience against increasingly complex and persistent threats.
Companies need to strengthen basic cybersecurity practices, including regular software updates, vulnerability management, employee awareness training, stronger authentication controls and improved monitoring of suspicious activity.
Cybersecurity is also becoming a governance issue. Boards and business leaders increasingly need to treat digital security as part of overall risk management rather than only an IT responsibility.
As African economies continue their digital transformation, protecting business information and critical systems will become increasingly important for maintaining investor confidence, operational continuity and long-term growth.
The rise of cyberespionage demonstrates that cybersecurity is no longer only a technology challenge. It is a strategic business issue affecting organisations across Africa and the wider global economy.
Source: Kaspersky