INTERPOL has warned that South Africa has become one of Africa’s leading targets for cybercrime, with the country facing significantly more ransomware and other attacks than elsewhere on the continent.
Neal Jetton, director of INTERPOL’s cybercrime unit, said criminals are primarily scanning for weaknesses rather than targeting specific countries and that South Africa’s role as a financial and digital hub makes it especially vulnerable to cyberattacks.
He said increased digitalisation and gaps in data and network security have created openings for financially motivated attackers.
“They are going across, scanning networks and seeing where there are vulnerabilities they can exploit,” Jetton said.
The alert comes amid a sharp rise in cybercrime across Africa where losses have more than doubled to $484 million since 2024, according to INTERPOL’s latest Cyber Assessment Report.
The assessment, based on data from 36 member states, describes a shift from isolated incidents to an “industrialised, borderless ecosystem” driven by AI‑assisted scams, credential theft and automated social engineering.
JN/APA