East Africa Threat Landscape Report’s 2026 CISO Brief

Key Cybersecurity Insights for Security Leaders

• Dark Web Activity Is Strongly Profit-Driven: Selling accounts for 71.70% of activity, showing that threat actors primarily focus on monetizing stolen data and access.
• Data Leaks Dominate the Threat Landscape: Data and database leaks represent 76.77% of all dark web threats targeting the region.
• Access Sales Increase Intrusion Risk: 19.19% of threats involve selling compromised credentials or remote access, often preceding ransomware attacks.
• Ransomware Activity Is Highly Fragmented: Qilin leads at 25%, while LockBit and The Gentlemen account for 9.40% each, with smaller groups collectively driving most activity.
• French-Language Phishing Campaigns Dominate: Template-based phishing operations using titles like “Mon site” and “Un instant…” heavily target Seychelles-linked entities.
• HTTPS Enables More Convincing Phishing: 86.10% of phishing pages use HTTPS, reducing the effectiveness of traditional trust indicators.
• Government and Financial Sectors Face Elevated Exposure: Public Administration and Finance remain the most heavily targeted sectors across the region.

Why This Report Matters for CISOs

East Africa’s threat landscape reflects a growing cybercriminal ecosystem focused on monetizing sensitive data, exploiting compromised access, and scaling phishing campaigns across rapidly developing digital markets. The combination of fragmented ransomware activity and widespread credential abuse increases unpredictability and raises operational risk for organizations throughout the region.

CISOs must prioritize visibility into dark web activity, strengthen identity and access management, and improve phishing detection capabilities beyond basic HTTPS trust indicators. By combining intelligence-driven monitoring with stronger access controls and ransomware preparedness, organizations can better anticipate attacks and reduce exposure across increasingly connected environments.