In the first half of the year, the threat of cybercrime in Africa continued to grow dramatically, with phishing and scams increasing by 438 percent and 174 percent in Kenya and Nigeria, respectively.
Across its latest report released yesterday, Kaspersky, which made this revelation, stated that assaults including data loss risks (phishing and scams/social engineering) grew dramatically in Africa in Q2 2022 compared to the prior quarter. Across Q2, Kaspersky claims that its security tools found 10,722,886 phishing attempts in Africa.
According to the report, users in Kenya were most impacted by this kind of danger. 5,098,534 phishing assaults were found in three months during the time, a 438 percent increase from the prior quarter. South Africa (4,578,216 detections, a rise of 144%), and Nigeria came in second and third, respectively (1,046,136 detections and a growth of 174 per cent).
According to Kaspersky, social engineering, often known as “human hacking” scams, are utilized in a variety of methods and for a variety of reasons to entice unsuspecting people to the website and deceive them into providing personal information. It was emphasized that the latter frequently contains login information for social media accounts as well as financial credentials like bank account passwords or payment card details. When in the wrong hands, this can lead to a number of harmful activities, including the theft of money and the hacking of corporate networks.
The security company claims that phishing is a powerful assault strategy since it is carried out on a big scale. It emphasized that malicious users boost their chances of success in their search for innocent people’s credentials by sending enormous waves of emails under the guise of reputable institutions or by promoting bogus pages.
According to the article, phishers utilize a number of techniques to get beyond email filtering and attract as many users as they can to their bogus websites. It also mentioned that HTML attachments with partially or entirely obfuscated code are a typical tactic. It emphasized how attackers may employ scripts, hide dangerous material from detection, and distribute phishing pages as attachments rather than links thanks to HTML files.
According to Kaspersky, scammers are attempting to entice tourists who are looking for exciting destinations, affordable accommodations, and affordable flights during the peak travel season. Researchers from Kaspersky have noticed an increase in scamming operations, with many phishing pages being provided under the pretext of travel agencies and airlines. In the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa (META) region, 4,311 attempts to open phishing URLs relating to airline and booking services were made in the first half of 2022.
“Planning a vacation is not easy,” said Mikhail Sytnik, a security expert at Kaspersky. People may hunt for the ideal lodging and the necessary travel arrangements for weeks or even months. This is how scammers entice people who have grown weary of looking for amazing discounts. Travel is now again possible after the pandemic’s two-year airplane ban. However, travel scams are also on the rise, with more fraud targeting consumers through phony rental and booking sites. Such attacks are entirely avoidable, so we advise people to be wary of extravagant offers. A deal is probably a scam if it looks too good to be true.
Kaspersky experts advised users to carefully check the address bar before entering any important information, “such as your login details and password,” to keep users protected from phishing and scams. Don’t enter any information on the website if the URL is incorrect (for example, if the spelling is incorrect, the URL doesn’t look like the original, or if special symbols are used in place of letters). If in doubt, click on the lock icon to the left of the URL to view the website’s certificate.
“Avoid clicking on links from sources you don’t know” (either through e-mails, messaging apps or social networks).
If you find a giveaway being provided by a travel agency or an airline via email or social media, you should visit the company’s official website to make sure it is real. Also, pay close attention to the URLs that the giveaway advertisement directs you to.
