South Africa has been ranked the most targeted country in Africa for cybercrime, accounting for 40% of all ransomware attacks and nearly 35% of infostealer incidents on the continent. This is according to global cybersecurity company ESET’s latest bi-annual Threat Report, which highlights key trends shaping the digital security landscape.   

In June 2024, South Africa’s National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) reported that it was hit with a ransomware attack, which disrupted its systems, deleted backups, and stole 1.2-terabytes of data – in the middle of dealing an mpox outbreak. The breach also put sensitive medical data of millions of patients at risk. More recently, in January 2025, the South African Weather Service disclosed that its ICT-base systems were disrupted by an attack led by ransomware-as-a-service group RansomHub – who have racked up hundreds of victims, since they were first detected at the start of 2024.