Africa’s energy and utilities sectors were the most targeted by cyber criminals in August 2026, followed by financial services and government institutions, according to Check Point Research’s Global Threat Intelligence insights covering four African countries.
"This should be a red flag to all concerned," says Lorna Hardie, regional director for Africa at Check Point Software, who notes that these sectors represent the heartbeat of any country’s economy.
“Ensuring their cyber security should be a priority,” adds Hardie.
Organisations worldwide experienced an average of 2 422 cyber attacks per week in August, a 4% increase month on month and a 22% increase year on year (YOY).
Weekly attacks on organisations in African countries exceeded the global average. Of the four countries included in the August 2026 report, Angola recorded 5 416 attacks per organisation per week, up 47% YOY. Nigeria recorded 4 906 attacks, up 45%, followed by Kenya with 3 658 attacks per organisation per week, up 6%. SA recorded 2 086 attacks per organisation per week, slightly below the global average and down 3% YOY.
The findings show a broad increase in cyber risk, with ransomware, phishing and GenAI-related data exposure remaining key security challenges.
GenAI adoption accelerates
GenAI-related risk remained a concern in August. High-risk GenAI prompts fell to their lowest level in several months, with one in every 43 prompts from enterprise networks posing a data exposure risk.
Overall usage continued to increase. The average user generated 106 prompts during the month, up from 95 in July and 78 in June.
The increase in usage means more opportunities for sensitive information to be entered into AI tools without adequate controls. Around 86% of organisations using GenAI regularly were affected by high-risk prompt activity, while organisations used an average of seven different AI tools.
Healthcare and medical recorded the highest high-risk GenAI prompt exposure rate at 4%, followed by software at 3.6% and business services at 3.5%. Latin America recorded the highest regional rate at 3.5%, compared with a global average of 2.3%.
“These differences point to the need for sector-specific AI governance, particularly in data-rich industries where employees may be more likely to handle sensitive, regulated or proprietary information,” according to Check Point.
Phishing remains a key e-mail threat
E-mail remained a major attack vector, with one in every 112 e-mails classified as phishing, compared with one in every 128 in July.
Links appeared in 72% of phishing e-mails, while 14% contained attachments. Attackers continue to use links to direct users to credential-harvesting or malware-delivery sites.
Associations and non-profits recorded the highest phishing rate among industries at 1.87%, followed by construction and engineering at 1.74%.
Ransomware attacks surge
Ransomware activity increased in August, with 1 042 attacks reported. That was almost double the number recorded in August 2025 and 8% higher than in July.
Business services remained the most targeted industry, accounting for 36% of reported ransomware attacks. Industrial manufacturing followed at 13%, and consumer goods and services at 12%.
Qilin was the most active ransomware group in August, responsible for 15% of published attacks. The Gentlemen accounted for 10%, while Orova entered the top three for the first time.
"For enterprises, the August threat landscape reinforces the importance of moving from reactive detection to proactive prevention," says Hardie.
That prevention needs to be supported by unified security controls, she adds.
"These can reduce complexity while helping teams identify and block threats across increasingly distributed digital environments."
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