[Dubai, United Arab Emirates; 25 June, 2025] Group-IB, a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime, announced today that it has supported key data and analysis to INTERPOL’s Africa Cybercrime Threat Assessment Report 2025.
The fourth edition of the report reveals a steep rise in cyber-related crime across the continent, with online scams, ransomware, business email compromise (BEC), and digital sextortion identified as the most prevalent threats. According to INTERPOL, cybercrime now accounts for more than 30 per cent of all reported crime in parts of Western and Eastern Africa.
Neal Jetton, INTERPOL Cybercrime Director, said: “This fourth edition of the INTERPOL African Cyberthreat Assessment provides a vital snapshot of the current situation, informed by operational intelligence, extensive law enforcement engagement and strategic private-sector collaboration. It paints a clear picture of a threat landscape in flux, with emerging dangers like AI-driven fraud that demand urgent attention. No single agency or country can face these challenges alone.”
Ambassador Jalel Chelba, Acting Executive Director of AFRIPOL, said: “Cybersecurity is not merely a technical issue; it has become a fundamental pillar of stability, peace, and sustainable development in Africa. It directly concerns the digital sovereignty of states, the resilience of our institutions, citizen trust and the proper functioning of our economies.”
As a strategic contributor to this year’s edition, Group-IB shared exclusive statistics and insights on cybercriminal infrastructure and attack patterns observed across Africa in 2024. Drawing from its flagship Hi-Tech Crime Trends Report 2024, Group-IB provided intelligence on:
● Data leaks:
○ The highest number of public data breaches were recorded in Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa.
○ The education sector and internet service providers were the most frequently impacted by these leaks across the region.
● Ransomware activity:
○ South Africa was the most frequently targeted country by ransomware operators in 2024.
○ Among them, LockBit was identified as the most active ransomware group targeting African entities.
○ The education and internet services sectors also ranked among the top targets of ransomware campaigns.
○ A notable concentration of ransomware-related data leaks was observed in Egypt, Morocco, and South Africa.
● Additional insights: Group-IB also shared intelligence on phishing infrastructure, stealer malware, and DDoS attack vectors, supporting INTERPOL’s broader work under the African Joint Operation against Cybercrime (AFJOC) program.
“We are honored to support INTERPOL and its African member countries in strengthening their cyber resilience,” said Dmitry Volkov, CEO of Group-IB. “As a leading Threat Intelligence company, this collaboration reflects our ongoing commitment to empowering global and regional partners with world-class Threat Intelligence, Incident Response, and Investigation solutions to better prevent, detect and investigate cybercrime.”
The INTERPOL report also documents an estimated USD 3 billion in financial losses from cybercrime across Africa between 2019 and 2025, underscoring the urgent need for public-private cooperation and cross-border cyber defense mechanisms.
Group-IB remains committed to working with global and regional stakeholders—including law enforcement, regulators, and the private sector—to detect, disrupt, and deter cybercriminal activity affecting Africa and beyond.
The full INTERPOL Africa Cyberthreat Assessment Report 2025 is available for download here.
ABOUT GROUP-IB
Established in 2003, Group-IB is a leading creator of cybersecurity technologies to investigate, prevent, and fight digital crime globally. Headquartered in Singapore, and with Digital Crime Resistance Centers in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Central Asia, and the Asia-Pacific, Group-IB analyses and neutralizes regional and country-specific cyber threats via its Unified Risk Platform, offering unparalleled defense through its industry-leading Threat Intelligence, Fraud Protection, Digital Risk Protection, Managed Extended Detection and Response (XDR), Business Email Protection, and External Attack Surface Management solutions, catering to government, retail, healthcare, gaming, financial sectors, and beyond. Group-IB collaborates with international law enforcement agencies like INTERPOL, EUROPOL, and AFRIPOL to fortify cybersecurity worldwide, and has been awarded by advisory agencies including Aite-Novarica, Gartner, Forrester, Frost & Sullivan, and KuppingerCole.
