Africa: Is Africa Cybercrime-Savvy?

analysis

It started with loud music and the smell of marijuana. When South African police stormed a hotel room in the Western Cape they found six people huddled over 32 computers and mobile devices. This extortion syndicate was extracting millions of dollars from unwitting individuals.

A senior source at South Africa's National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) says such 'boiler rooms' of malicious cyber activity are rapidly expanding. 'We have never had a major incursion or data breach referred to the NPA from the police ... no seminal event' - such as when Ukraine's power grid was taken down by hackers in 2016. But, says the source, it could just be 'a matter of time.'

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