The latest threat index by CheckPoint Software Technologies,
has ranked Nigeria 19th, showing that most African countries are
volatile in threat ranking, just as the number of active global malware
families increased by 15 per cent by the
end of May 2016, reports ITRealms.
The company also said May Threat Index presents a mixed view
of Africa, with several countries making quite strong moves up and down the
index - the higher their relative ranking in the index, the greater the threat
of cyber-attack.
The Area Manager for East and West Africa at Check Point
Software Technologies, Mr. Rick Rogers, said there are four African countries
in the top ten of the index, including Malawi who currently sits at third thereby
improving by one position from the previous month.
“The others include Djibouti, Namibia and Angola. Just
outside of the top ten, at eleventh, sits Botswana. There are 112 countries on
the overall Index,” he said.
The West African technology and economic hub, Nigeria,
Rogers said, is currently ranked 19th; a significant improvement on
April’s 11th position. Stressing that in
a reversal of fortunes of sorts, east African powerhouse, Kenya shifted a
massive 46 positions to sit at just 37th.
He also said, globally, Check Point detected 2,300 unique
and active malware families attacking business networks in May, pointing out
that it was the second month running that Check Point observed an increase in
the number of unique malware families, having previously reported a 50 per cent
increase from March to April.
“The continued rise in the number of active malware variants
highlights the wide range of threats and scale of challenges security teams
face in preventing an attack on their business critical information,” he said.
Precisely, the May checklist by CheckPoint noted that banking
malware Tinba became the fourth most prevalent form of infection last month in
Kenya, and ninth in Nigeria.
“This Trojan allows hackers to steal victims’ credentials
using web-injects, activated as users try to log-in to their banking website.
Tinba ranked second in the overall international threat list,” he said.
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