At least four in 10 companies in Africa lack confidence in their governments' preparedness to respond to a major cyber security incident, a higher proportion than other regions globally. Findings contained in the latest Global Cybersecurity Outlook published by the World Economic Forum this week highlight poor national investments in cybersecurity across the continent, with only nine per cent of companies saying they are “very confident” in state cybersecurity safeguards, The EastAfrican reported. This means that a large number of organisations on the continent worry that should there be a major cyberattack, they may suffer serious economic losses and damage as their governments don't have sufficient safeguards in place to mitigate the impacts. ALSO READ: Rwanda achieves top ranking in global cybersecurity The report reveals that while several companies lack confidence in national cybersecurity preparedness, organisations in Africa are generally more worried. Based on a survey done by the global think-tank, 35 per cent of African companies lack confidence on their countries' preparedness to handle cyber incidents, compared to just 15 per cent in Europe and North America, and zero per cent in the Oceania region. Only nine per cent of firms in Africa are very confident in their governments cybersecurity preparedness, while the proportion rises to 15 percent, 17 percent, and 25 per cent in Europe. North America, and Oceania respectively. ALSO READ: Cybersecurity experts in Kigali to discuss data governance, protection Experts in the industry say they are not surprised by these findings, as many African countries are yet to give priority to cybersecurity despite growing evidence that cyberattacks are increasing in number and sophistication. I am not so surprised by the difference in the lack of confidence in Africa versus Europe and North America, because there are distinct differences in terms of cybersecurity investments and human resources, said Isabelle Meyer Co-CEO of Zendata Cybersecurity. In North America and Europe, the investment toward different enforcement of [cybersecurity] regulations, PPPs (Public-Private Patnerships) started over 20 years ago. In Africa, there's barely any comprehensive regulation of cybersecurity,” she said, adding, Africa has less cybersecurity professionals, less infrastructure, less cybersecurity operations centres, so it only makes sense that organisations there would be worried about cybersecurity readiness. ALSO READ: What are the top cyber security threats in Rwanda? Notably, smaller organisations have reported struggling with cyber resilience more than larger ones, and in Africa, the vast majority of companies are small, in terms of turnover employee count and profit. Globally, the number of small organisations reporting insufficient cyber resilience, according to the WEF survey, has risen from five percent in 2022 to 35 percent this year while large firms have improved, with those still struggling reducing to seven percent from 13 per cent. The difficulties building cyber resilience have been compounded by a number of factors, including escalating geopolitical tensions, the rapid adoption of new technologies and increased sophistication of attackers. Geopolitical tensions, linked to the rise of cyber espionage – the illegal gathering of sensitive information from a company, individual or government for use to an opponent's political or economic advantage – have become a real headache for companies globally About 60 percent of companies globally say geopolitical tensions have affected their cybersecurity strategies, and over a third of CEOs say it has heightened the risk of cyber espionage.
