The Trends of Cybersecurity and its Emerging Challenges in Africa

The cost of cybersecurity is steadily increasing, both in terms of the overall loss to the organisation and in terms of the number of cyberattacks. Every day, new cyber threat types and features appear in the worldwide environment. The hackers have progressed to the point where they come up with novel and creative ways to attack systems, networks, services, and data to steal valuable IT resources. It is impossible to be careless in the field of cybersecurity. Cybersecurity experts and administrators must constantly be on guard against possibly harmful events because new types of cyberattacks are constantly being developed. However, in the digital age, hacking has become a reality. The danger is extremely escalating. Cyber-intrusions are increasing in frequency, cost, and level of sophistication. African countries have recently suffered from an increase in cyber threats. The continent is experiencing an increase in cyberattacks, which can be ascribed to weak cybersecurity measures and vulnerable systems. In many African countries, cybersecurity is a luxury rather than a requirement. Its significance in the continent is still not adequately understood or acknowledged. According to reports, many organizations’ cybersecurity budgets are less than 1%, and many of them have no funding at all. In light of the foregoing, the chapter will look at the cybersecurity issue in Africa and the various cyber threats that have emerged recently. The chapter will also provide an overview of the African Union Convention on CyberSecurity and Personal Data Protection and the difficulties the continental organisation has faced in addressing the cybersecurity issue to reduce the threat level, which is on the rise. The chapter will conclude by identifying different approaches to tackling the problems of hacking in Africa.