AI-driven cyberattacks surge across Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa in H1 2026
Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky reported that the Middle East, Türkiye, and Africa region faced millions of web-based cyberattacks in the first half of 2026, with Nigeria recording 1.6 million attempts and 18.4% of users affected. Threat actors increasingly integrated AI into attack operations, using large language models to generate phishing emails, malicious code, and develop malware, marking a significant escalation in cybercrime sophistication across the region.
What happened
According to Kaspersky's telemetry, detection systems stopped 5.7 million attacks in South Africa, 4.5 million in Kenya and 1.6 million in Nigeria during the first half of 2026, with attacks exploiting vulnerabilities in websites, emails and web services.
Kaspersky experts reported that threat actors increasingly integrated AI into different stages of their operations, using large language models to generate phishing emails, malicious code and supporting operational content.
Reported impact
Türkiye recorded the highest percentage of users affected by web-based threats at 22.8%, followed by Kenya (21.2%), Qatar (19.3%), Nigeria (18.4%) and South Africa (17.2%).
Nigeria's expanding digital economy, powered by fintech, artificial intelligence, cloud computing and digital identity initiatives, has dramatically expanded the country's cyber attack surface, with industry experts warning that every new digital deployment creates additional entry points for attackers.
Index analysis
Researchers observed AI-assisted malware development in campaigns linked to the FunkSec group, which deployed Rust-based malware capable of data theft, encryption and process manipulation.
Modern language models are capable of generating substantial portions of malicious software, from initial code scaffolding to functional modules, marking a significant evolution in cybercrime sophistication.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.