Published 24th May, 2023

By Abimbola Abatta

In Africa, Nigeria was the second country with the highest number of data breaches in the first quarter of 2023. And globally, the country took the 32nd position.

A report released by Surfshark, a cybersecurity company, earlier this month showed that 82,000 email accounts were leaked in Nigeria from January to March 2023.

This number of total breached accounts, according to the company, is 46 percent higher than it was in the first quarter of last year.

FIJ obtained a table from the company, which shows that South Sudan was the most breached country in Africa within the period, followed by Nigeria and Egypt.

While South Sudan had 169,259 breached accounts, Nigeria had N82,000 breached accounts and Egypt had 64,750.

ISO Alpha-2	Region	Country	Population	2023’Q1 Breached accounts	Rank in Africa
SS	Africa	South Sudan	11,193,725	169,259	1
ZA	Africa	South Africa	59,308,690	29,055	6
EG	Africa	Egypt	102,334,404	64,750	3
NG	Africa	Nigeria	206,139,589	82,278	2
SD	Africa	Sudan	43,849,260	1,919	21
MA	Africa	Morocco	36,910,560	60,138	4
DZ	Africa	Algeria	43,851,044	11,253	9
KE	Africa	Kenya	53,771,296	3,116	15
TN	Africa	Tunisia	11,818,619	35,558	5
CD	Africa	Congo DR	89,561,403	3,884	12
GH	Africa	Ghana	31,072,940	1,637	23
CM	Africa	Cameroon	26,545,863	3,129	14
SO	Africa	Somalia	15,893,222	1,194	28
ZW	Africa	Zimbabwe	14,862,924	1,290	26
SN	Africa	Senegal	16,743,927	2,473	17
CI	Africa	Ivory Coast	26,378,274	4,650	11
UG	Africa	Uganda	45,741,007	880	32
GQ	Africa	Equatorial Guinea	1,402,985	809	37
TZ	Africa	Tanzania	59,734,218	880	32
MU	Africa	Mauritius	1,271,768	19,702	8
NE	Africa	Niger	24,206,644	1,106	30
TF	Africa	French Southern Territories	300	2,084	19
ET	Africa	Ethiopia	114,963,588	1,688	22
LY	Africa	Libya	6,871,292	1,531	24
AO	Africa	Angola	32,866,272	992	31
ZM	Africa	Zambia	18,383,955	1,110	29
BW	Africa	Botswana	2,351,627	417	46
MZ	Africa	Mozambique	31,255,435	2,445	18
NA	Africa	Namibia	2,540,905	722	39
ST	Africa	São Tomé and Príncipe	219,159	491	44
ML	Africa	Mali	20,250,833	4,967	10
BJ	Africa	Benin	12,123,200	812	36
YT	Africa	Mayotte	272,815	317	53
RE	Africa	Réunion	895,312	20,880	7
SC	Africa	Seychelles	98,347	2,978	16
MG	Africa	Madagascar	27,691,018	1,507	25
RW	Africa	Rwanda	12,952,218	1,276	27
GA	Africa	Gabon	2,225,734	2,066	20
BF	Africa	Burkina Faso	20,903,273	3,401	13
GN	Africa	Guinea	13,132,795	813	35
TG	Africa	Togo	8,278,724	621	42
MW	Africa	Malawi	19,129,952	413	47
GM	Africa	Gambia	2,416,668	321	52
DJ	Africa	Djibouti	988,000	340	51
SL	Africa	Sierra Leone	7,976,983	766	38
LR	Africa	Liberia	5,057,681	650	41
CF	Africa	Central African Republic	4,829,767	852	34
CV	Africa	Cabo Verde	555,987	498	43
MR	Africa	Mauritania	4,649,658	352	50
KM	Africa	Comoros	869,601	353	49
LS	Africa	Lesotho	2,142,249	232	56
SZ	Africa	Eswatini	1,160,164	179	60
CG	Africa	Congo	5,518,087	659	40
TD	Africa	Chad	16,425,864	448	45
BI	Africa	Burundi	11,890,784	235	55
ER	Africa	Eritrea	3,546,421	401	48
GW	Africa	Guinea-Bissau	1,968,001	242	54
SH	Africa	Saint Helena	6,077	185	58
IO	Africa	British Indian Ocean Territory	3,500	182	59
EH	Africa	Western Sahara	597,339	225	57

Table obtained from Surfshark

Surfshark also revealed that those whose data were compromised risked being targeted by cybercriminals as their personal information could be used for phishing attacks, fraud, identity theft and other serious cybercrimes.

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