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Africa: Kaspersky Blocks Over 30,000 Mobile Malware Attacks in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa in Six Months

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4 years ago

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The top three most prevalent malware behaviours that Kaspersky has seen in Kenya and Nigeria are Trojans, Trojan-Downloaders and Trojan-Droppers.

Out of the more than 206,000 mobile malware attacks blocked by Kaspersky solutions for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region in just six months measured between January and June 2021, over 30,000 of these attacks combined originated from Nigeria (14,071), Kenya (10,697), and South Africa (5,499).

Significantly, for African countries monitored, Nigeria only trails Egypt (19,466) by the number of attacks blocked, pointing to how prevalent mobile threats have become in this highly connected country. In fact, Kaspersky’s latest research shows that when looking at the top ten countries by share of users attacked by mobile malware Nigeria places eighth (at 11.76 per cent). Even though Kenya and South Africa might not feature as prominently, the mobile malware threat is still a concern, along with the shift to more targeted based attacks these countries are seeing.

The top three most prevalent malware behaviours that Kaspersky has seen in Kenya and Nigeria are Trojans, Trojan-Downloaders; and Trojan-Droppers. In South Africa, these are Trojans, Trojan-Proxy; and Trojan-Downloaders.

A Trojan is a type of malware that is often disguised as legitimate software which attackers can use to try and gain access to user systems. As the name suggests, Trojan-Downloaders download and install new versions of malicious programmes, including Trojans and Adware on victim computers. Meanwhile, Trojan-Droppers usually save a range of files containing malicious programmes to the victim’s drive. Once installed, a Trojan-Proxy allows an attacker to use the infected device as a proxy to connect to the Internet.