Check Point: Africa Energy Cyber Attacks Soar in August 2026

• Africa's energy and utilities sectors were the most targeted by cyber criminals in August 2026, according to Check Point Research.
• Cyber attack volumes in Angola, Nigeria, and Kenya significantly surpassed the global average, highlighting regional vulnerability.
• Ransomware attacks nearly doubled year-on-year, while GenAI-related data exposure remained a key concern for enterprises.
• Lorna Hardie, Regional Director for Africa at Check Point Software, urged critical infrastructure to prioritize proactive prevention and unified security controls.

The escalating cyber threats underscore a critical need for legal and compliance professionals within Africa's energy and utilities sectors to re-evaluate and fortify their cybersecurity frameworks, data protection policies, and incident response strategies.

Check Point Research’s Global Threat Intelligence insights for August 2026 revealed that Africa’s energy and utilities sectors were the primary targets for cyber criminals across four surveyed African countries. These critical infrastructure sectors, vital to national economies, faced more attacks than financial services or government institutions. Lorna Hardie, Regional Director for Africa at Check Point Software Technologies, highlighted this trend as a significant warning, emphasizing the paramount importance of securing these foundational industries.

Globally, organizations experienced an average of 2,422 cyber attacks per week in August, marking a 4% increase from the previous month and a substantial 22% rise year-on-year. However, weekly attacks on organizations within African countries frequently surpassed this global average. Specifically, Angola recorded 5,416 attacks per organization per week, a 47% increase year-on-year. Nigeria followed closely with 4,906 attacks, up 45%, while Kenya saw 3,658 attacks per organization per week, representing a 6% increase. South Africa, in contrast, registered 2,086 attacks per organization per week, slightly below the global average and a 3% decrease year-on-year. These cyber attack statistics Angola Nigeria Kenya SA collectively indicate a broad escalation in cyber risk across the continent.

Beyond the sheer volume of attacks, the Check Point Global Threat Intelligence Africa report identified ransomware, phishing, and GenAI-related data exposure as persistent and significant security challenges. Ransomware activity, in particular, saw a notable surge in August, with 1,042 reported attacks. This figure was nearly double the number recorded in August 2025 and an 8% increase compared to July. Business services bore the brunt of these attacks, accounting for 36% of reported incidents, followed by industrial manufacturing at 13%, and consumer goods and services at 12%. Prominent ransomware groups like Qilin (15% of published attacks), The Gentlemen (10%), and newcomer Orova were highly active.

The increasing adoption of generative AI (GenAI) tools also introduced new vulnerabilities, contributing to the growing GenAI data exposure risk Africa faces. While high-risk GenAI prompts reached their lowest level in several months, with one in every 43 prompts from enterprise networks posing a data exposure risk, overall usage continued its upward trajectory. The average user generated 106 prompts during August, up from 95 in July and 78 in June. This increased usage creates more opportunities for sensitive information to be inadvertently entered into AI tools without adequate controls. Approximately 86% of organizations regularly using GenAI were affected by high-risk prompt activity, with organizations typically employing an average of seven different AI tools. Healthcare and medical sectors 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 registered the highest regional rate at 3.5%, compared to a global average of 2.3%, underscoring the need for sector-specific AI governance, especially in data-rich industries.

Email remained a primary vector for cyber attacks, with one in every 112 emails classified as phishing in August, a slight increase from one in every 128 in July. Links, often directing users to credential-harvesting or malware-delivery sites, were present in 72% of these phishing emails, while 14% contained malicious attachments. Associations and non-profits experienced the highest phishing rate among industries at 1.87%, with construction and engineering following at 1.74%.

The escalating cyber threats underscore a critical need for legal and compliance professionals within Africa's energy and utilities sectors to re-evaluate and fortify their cybersecurity frameworks, data protection policies, and incident response strategies. Lorna Hardie, Regional Director for Africa at Check Point Software, emphasized that these sectors represent the “heartbeat of any country’s economy,” making their cybersecurity a top priority. The significant increase in ransomware attacks Africa energy sector organizations face, coupled with the pervasive threat of phishing and the emerging GenAI data exposure risk Africa presents, demands a shift from reactive detection to proactive prevention.

Hardie advocates for the implementation of unified security controls to manage the complex and increasingly distributed digital environments prevalent in these industries. Such controls are essential for reducing operational complexity while simultaneously enhancing the ability of security teams to identify and block threats effectively. Given the heightened Africa utilities cyber security threats, robust legal and regulatory compliance becomes paramount. Organizations must ensure their protocols are not only technically sound but also legally compliant to mitigate potential fines, reputational damage, and operational disruptions stemming from successful cyber intrusions.

Lawyers and compliance officers in African energy and utilities sectors must urgently review and update their cyber security protocols, data protection policies, and incident response plans, particularly concerning GenAI usage, to mitigate heightened legal and financial risks from increased cyber attacks and potential regulatory non-compliance.

Source: Original reporting via Check Point Research insights