Trend Micro Incorporated revealed that it blocked more than 161 billion threats globally in 2023, marking a significant 10% rise in threat detections when compared with the previous year’s figures. The company issued a warning to local businesses, highlighting that growing adoption of AI tools and solutions is increasingly opening new avenues of attack.
Over the past year, organisations across South Africa have been exploring how generative AI can be used to unlock business value. However, bad actors are constantly on the lookout for low-effort, high-return modes of attack, and generative AI provides some key opportunities. Its speed and scalability are enhancing social engineering and fraud while making it faster and easier for cybercriminals to mine large datasets for actionable information. At the same time, AI-powered apps can be vulnerable to hijacking and misuse.
These ongoing trends serve as a compelling reminder that enterprises must maintain a proactive approach in managing risks across the entire attack surface in today’s dynamic cybersecurity landscape. In South Africa, Trend Micro effectively blocked more than 225 million threats in 2023. This figure encompasses the prevention of over 159 million email threats and over 8 million malicious URL victim attacks. Additionally, the company identified and stopped around 35 million malware attacks, indicating that cybercriminals are doubling down on their criminal activities within the country.
"Building a reputation can take decades, but a single cyber incident can collapse it in minutes,” said Assad Arabi, Managing Director, Africa and Venture Markets. “This underscores the critical need for organisations to prioritise strong cybersecurity measures to safeguard their operations and combat modern threats effectively – particularly as we navigate this era of AI in which new tools are powering more sophisticated phishing attempts at scale. By staying proactive and vigilant, organisations can mitigate risks and maintain their reputation in an ever-evolving digital landscape."
Over the past few months, Trend has launched several new solutions designed to protect every person accessing public or private generative AI services across their organisations.
