Emerging Threat Focus: Africa

Last Updated on Sunday, 10 January 2010 12:54 Written by Jeffreycarr Tuesday, 5 January 2010 11:39

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On September 17, 2009, I posted my concerns about Africa being home to the world’s largest collection of infected hosts (est. 80 million) and its serious potential for harm in mid-2010 once the various undersea cable projects delivered cheap, broadband service continent-wide.

Today, Symantec concurred, explaining how the introduction of broadband service has been shown to be the precursor to major increases in cybercrime.

East Africa is a region in chaos where Somali pirates and radical Muslim groups are thriving. In my view, it’s not a question of if either group will find a way to leverage cyberspace once broadband arrives, but when. If you are working in Africa or have conversational skills in any of the continent’s many languages and would like to participate in future OSINT activities focusing on East Africa, please contact me.