At AI Everything Kenya x GITEX Kenya, taking place from 19-21 May, global cybersecurity company, Kaspersky, talks about the current threat landscape in Kenya and the wider East Africa region, warning that the rapid development and adoption of artificial intelligence is creating new opportunities for innovation while simultaneously introducing cyberthreats for businesses and individual users. With risks varying from AI-powered social engineering campaigns and deepfake fraud to “Shadow AI” risks inside organisations, Kaspersky advises organisations to adopt clear policies, cybersecurity controls and employee education to ensure AI technologies are deployed safely and responsibly.
“As organisations in Kenya and the wider region accelerate digital transformation, cybersecurity is becoming a board-level priority. We are seeing growing awareness that innovation and security must develop hand in hand. Industry events such as GITEX play an important role in this process by helping businesses better understand both the impressive opportunities AI and digital technologies create, and the precautions needed to manage the evolving cyber risks that come with them,” says Chris Norton, General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa at Kaspersky.
Cyberthreat landscape developments
AI risks come amid other cybersecurity challenges of the evolving threat landscape in the region. Kaspersky data demonstrates that in 2025, password stealer attacks increased by 83% year-over-year in Kenya and 56% across Sub-Saharan Africa. Spyware attacks grew by the same figure of 83% in Kenya and 53% regionally, while backdoor attacks rose by 25% in Kenya and 8% across Sub-Saharan Africa. Although exploit attacks showed a slight decline, they remain a major concern due to their mass spread and unauthorised access they open to a users’ systems. Meanwhile, ransomware continues to pose a serious risk to organisations, with 7.62% of organisations in Africa experiencing ransomware detections in 2025.
Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) remain among the most serious risks for enterprises. According to the Kaspersky Security Services Global Report, APT groups were detected and blocked in 21% of customers in 2025 and accounted for 23% of all high-severity incidents. These highly organised groups increasingly combine AI-enhanced techniques with social engineering and targeted intrusion methods to maximise operational effectiveness.
Cybersecurity traps of AI
According to Kaspersky experts, cybercriminals can use AI across multiple stages of cyberattacks: from preparation and communication to assembling malicious components, probing for vulnerabilities and deploying tools, while simultaneously concealing evidence of AI involvement to complicate investigations and attribution. Malicious actors are also actively distributing malware disguised as AI tools to steal sensitive information from victims.
One of the growing cybersecurity issues is the spread of deepfakes and AI-generated fraudulent content. As AI tools become more and more sophisticated, distinguishing authentic material from manipulated ones is becoming more difficult. Kaspersky researchers warn that AI models can also be vulnerable to “unintended memorisation”, where models retain fragments of sensitive information that attackers may later extract. Additional risks include malicious tampering with training datasets, injection of harmful logic into AI software code and exploitation of vulnerabilities within AI-powered systems.
The emergence of AI agents, which are systems capable of autonomously taking actions on behalf of users, creates another significant attack surface. According to Kaspersky, these systems can be manipulated through adversarial content or misconfigured autonomy settings, potentially leading to harmful real-world actions.
Kaspersky also highlights the growing challenge of “Shadow AI”, where employees use public AI services without oversight from IT departments. This creates uncontrolled data flows and increases the risk of confidential information exposure. A recent Kaspersky study* titled “Cybersecurity in the workplace: Employee knowledge and behaviour” showed that 87.8% of professionals surveyed in Kenya use AI tools for work-related tasks, including text editing, e-mail writing, data analytics and content creation. However, only 35% reported receiving cybersecurity training related to AI use.
Essential Actions in the AI-driven IT world
Kaspersky recommends organisations to regularly assess AI-related risks and establish comprehensive AI governance policies defining which AI tools are approved and what types of data can be processed. Regular employee training on secure AI usage, recognition of fake AI services, malicious links and prompt injection risks is equally essential.
To effectively manage the growing range of cyber risks, organisations should adopt a comprehensive cybersecurity strategy that combines advanced security technologies, reliable threat intelligence, strong internal processes and continuous employee education. Robust cybersecurity solutions, such as the AI-powered Kaspersky SIEM and Kaspersky Next product line, provide real-time protection, threat visibility, investigation and response capabilities.
For private users, Kaspersky recommends exercising caution when using AI-powered tools, carefully reviewing privacy settings, verifying the authenticity of AI applications and double-checking information generated by agentic AI systems before making decisions based on automated outputs. The company also advises families to maintain open discussions with children regarding their use of AI technologies and online safety practices.
Visit the Kaspersky stand at B10 in Hall 2 at GITEX Kenya to find out more.
*The survey was conducted by Toluna research agency at the request of Kaspersky in 2025. The study sample included 2800 online interviews with employees and business owners using computers for work in seven countries: Türkiye, South Africa, Kenya, Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
Africa Fact: Mobile money accounts are more popular in the region than traditional bank accounts.
Houston
A British man on safari walks into a bar far out in the reaches of a game reserve in Southern Africa, he stays at the bar for a while shooting the shit with the bartender and drinking like a fish, he offer to buy the barkeep a round and since no one else is within 2km of their small oasis of liquor the barkeep obliges. The englishman goes off to the bathroom to have a good old go at the porcelain, he\’s back and ready for a few more whiskeys. He\’s just sat down when suddenly in the distance he hears a scream. He looks over his shoulder and dismisses it as nothing, he turns to the barkeep and orders a drink, takes a sip and hears the scream again. He looks at the barkeep who just shrugs it off. A minute or two later he and the barman hear it again and go outside to take a look. They see a lone figure running towards them screaming, he spots them and lets out a cry, RUN!!!!! HE\”S COMING!!!!!
The barkeep and the Englishman both look at the terrified bedraggled sight before them, and try to calm him down, but he\’s completely inconsolable. They give him water and finally manage to get a word out of him but he struggles free from their grasp and run away screaming.
A few minutes later the same thing happens with a whole group of men running in and screaming, he\’s coming, he\’s coming the barkeep grabs hold of one of the men as he tries to sprint past the bar and tries to get information out of him, again no response other than terrified gibberish.
The barkeep and his customer are starting to get worried, they start to pack up before another group of horrified natives run up to the bar most of them flee but one tries to hide behind the bar, the barkeep pulls out a shotgun and points it at the terrified man\’s face, finally managing to coax some words out of him. \”He\’s coming for us, Vernon Koekemoer is coming for us, we have to hide!!! We have to get out of here.\” He gets up and tries to run but the barkeep grabs him, feeling trapped in a panic he grabs the barkeeps shotgun and blows his own head off. The Englishman and the barkeep look at each other starting to really panic now.
They look out of the window and off in the distance they see a tornado coming towards the bar, at the bottom of the tornado they see the hugest beast of a man they have ever seen, as he gets closer they spot that he is riding a rhinocerous and using a crocodile as a riding whip, with each smack of the crocodile across the back of the rhino the louder is screams and the faster it runs, the tornado following it getting ever larger.
The 2 look at each other and start to fortify their position, they\’ve got a gun and they\’re waaay to drunk to run, so they start piling bar stool and tables and anything they can get their hands on to make sure they\’ll be safe when he arrives. They\’re not gonna make it, they can see the man slowing down his rhino, by now the crocodile is nothing but reptile paste on the bruised rump of the half dead rhino, the rhino drops down dead from exhaustion and crashes to the ground right outside the bar the tornado loses it\’s last breath in a cloud of dust as the huge man crashes his way through the make shift barricade and charges up towards the bar where the 2 men have taken shelter, he grabs a bottle of the hardest liquor on the shelf and down the entire litre in 1 gulp, he peers over the bar sobbing and sees the 2 defenders cowering down behind the crates of beer, they look up at the mans\’ face and he stares at them with a look of complete and utter hopelessness, he stares at them for a half second and half screams, half sobs, \”Oh my god what are you still doing here!!! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!!! Vernon Koekemoer is coming!!!!\”
Lil Rebel Ma
If you believe nobody gives a hoot about you, dare to miss a number of credit card payments and see the love that you will get.