Cisco reveals 94 percent of African and middle Eastern countries suffered cyber breaches

godfred akoto

March 30, 2018 8:24 AM

According to the general manager, 34 per cent of the breaches resulted in more than half of systems being impacted, advising that businesses should adopt high security measures to curtail such breaches.

94 percent of countries in Africa and the Middle East suffered cyber breaches in 2017 according to technology giant CISCO.

The alarming revelation was made at a round table on Cyber Security in Nigeria by Cisco’s General Manager in Nigeria, Olakunle Oloruntimilehin who is warning African businesses to adopt a more aggressive posture.

“As cyber crimes become more rampant and sophisticated, Cisco has called on businesses to adopt proper security measures.

“There is need for them to take a comprehensive approach across people, process, technology and policy to protect their businesses from hackers and cyber criminals.

“This follows the findings reported in the recently released Cisco 2018 Annual Cyber Security Report which identified the evolution of ransomware as one of the most significant threat developments over the past year,” he said.

“There is the need for businesses and enterprises to adopt advanced methods of cybersecurity as security is getting more complex and the scope of breaches expanding.

“Several companies are hit by cyber breaches and attacks every year, causing losses in millions of naira and stealing highly classified information.

“It is, therefore, imperative that any organisation that desires to stay safe and minimise risks or losses should address cyber security at the top.

“Executive leadership should set the tone and engender a security-first-always-and-everywhere culture that flows throughout the organisation,” he said.

godfred akoto