Nigeria Faces Over 4,700 Cyberattacks Weekly as West Africa Loses N1bn to Fraud
- Cybersecurity firm Esentry revealed that over N1 billion in fraudulent transactions slipped past security systems across West Africa in the first half of 2026
- Nigeria recorded more than 4,700 cyberattacks weekly during the period, with about 281,500 accounts breached in the first quarter alone
- Esentry's report found that criminals bypassed detection by exploiting legitimate credentials and trusted digital environments rather than software flaws
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Legit.ng journalist Dave Ibemere has over a decade of experience in business journalism, with in-depth knowledge of the Nigerian economy, stocks, and general market trends.
West Africa lost more than N1 billion to fraud that conventional security tools failed to catch between January and June 2026, according to a new threat landscape report by cybersecurity firm Esentry.
The firm said three separate fraud incidents were only discovered after routine audits, customer complaints and settlement warnings, not because any security system flagged them.
Source: Getty Images
Esentry explained that attackers had used legitimate login credentials, active user sessions and familiar digital environments, making their activity appear normal to automated detection tools.
Esentry's chief business officer, Gbolabo Awelewa, said cybercriminals were shifting away from exploiting software vulnerabilities and were instead manipulating trust within systems.
He said attackers were deploying artificial intelligence-enabled workflows and operating through recognised platforms to avoid raising alarms, Leadership reports.
Nigeria faces growing cyber threats
The report carries particular weight for Nigeria, where banks, fintech companies and payment providers have rapidly expanded digital services, including instant-payment channels, cloud infrastructure and application programming interfaces.
During the six months, Nigerian organisations faced an average of more than 4,700 attacks every week.
About 281,500 Nigerian accounts were compromised in the first quarter of 2026 alone.
Esentry said its security teams processed over 3.5 million alerts across the period, with confirmed threats taking a median of 11 minutes from detection to escalation.
The firm's offensive security team also carried out 175 security engagements during H1 2026, covering testing, social engineering exercises and cloud security assessments.
All 175 engagements achieved unauthorised access without needing zero-day vulnerabilities, pointing to widespread weaknesses in access controls and authentication systems.
Source: UGC
Nigeria's payment system remains exposed
Despite some progress in reducing fraud losses, Nigeria's electronic payment sector remains under pressure.
The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System reported that fraud losses from electronic payments dropped 51% to N25.85 billion in 2025, down from N52.26 billion in 2024.
However, the continued expansion of digital financial services means more entry points for potential exploitation.
Ghana also featured in the report, with more than 3,500 confirmed cybersecurity incidents recorded in the first quarter of 2026. Online investment fraud in the country also rose during the same period, BusinessDay reports.
Esentry recommended that organisations move beyond relying on conventional alert systems and vulnerability scanning.
Nigerian bank updates mobile app
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that Ecobank Nigeria has rolled out new mobile banking security rules that cap transactions at N20,000 for customers using the app on a new or first-time device, citing alignment with Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Instant Payments Guidelines.
The policy applies to anyone registering the Ecobank Mobile App for the first time or logging in from a device that has not previously been linked to their account.
During the first 24 hours following their initial transaction on such a device, those customers will be unable to transfer or pay more than N20,000 per transaction.
Source: Legit.ng
