Smartcomply Report Warns East Africa’s Digital Growth Is Outpacing Cyber Defences
Smartcomply’s 2026 AI & Cyber Frontier Report finds East Africa’s rapid digital growth is outpacing cyber resilience, with Kenya losing KES 29.9 billion to cybercrime in 2025...
✨ Key Highlights
A new report from Smartcomply highlights a significant "execution gap" in East Africa, where rapid digital growth is outpacing cybersecurity defenses, leading to substantial financial losses.
- Kenya accounts for 68% of East Africa's digital attack surface, losing an estimated KES 29.9 billion (approx. $230 million) to cybercrime in 2025.
- The 2026 AI & Cyber Frontier Report by Smartcomply identifies artificial intelligence as a major accelerant of cyber risk, with 60% of global organizations believing they've been targeted by AI-enabled attacks.
- Despite ranking cyber risk as a top priority, only 29% of East African organizations conduct regular simulations, indicating a lack of operational resilience.
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AUI Global Signs MoU with Konza Technopolis for AI Certification - February 2026
AUI Global and the Konza Technopolis Development Authority (KoTDA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to offer AI executive certification programs. The partnership aims to build local AI capacity and expertise at Kenya's flagship technology hub. Nairobi has been recognized as a leading Artificial Intelligence hub in Africa, securing the 4th position in the Counterpoint Research 2026 Africa AI Cities Index. The report highlights the city's progress in AI adoption and development. However, a new report from Smartcomply warns that East Africa's rapid digital growth is outpacing cybersecurity defenses, creating a significant execution gap that leads to substantial financial losses. Together, these developments illustrate Kenya's advancing position in the AI sector while highlighting remaining challenges in digital infrastructure and security.
