LLMs has made it easier to create and implement in social engineering attacks in various languages, resulting in a major increase in cyber attacks on critical infrastructure in Africa. 80% of attacks involved ransomware, and 91% of incidents involved social engineering, usually emails targeting businesses. While the standard recommendation is to incorporate more cybersecurity training, AI generated cyber attacks are becoming harder to differentiate from standard correspondence. The increase of remote work in the continent also makes workers more vulnerable. “The exploitation of unpatched software, vulnerable Web services, and weak remote access services are the most common ways that ransomware groups are gaining access to their victims in Africa, according to the firm [Kaspersky]”.
