Interpol’s 2026 "African Cyberthreat Assessment", compiled from data across 36 African countries, identifies 2025 as the year when artificial intelligence (AI) moved from being a useful tool to the "core operational driver of cybercrime" on the continent. According to the report, AI now appears in 55 percent of reported incidents and automates fundamental attack tasks such as reconnaissance, phishing, extortion, and evasion.
Economic impact and concrete figures
The report documents a sharp rise in financial losses attributed to cybercrime in Africa: losses increased from $192 million to $484 million year‑on‑year. It also highlights about 600,000 reported cases of deepfake‑based sextortion.
Risks and institutional preparedness
Interpol warns that most official agencies are not yet prepared for AI‑driven threats. The assessment specifically notes that banks, telecommunications providers and police forces lack established real‑time information‑sharing mechanisms, which slows response times and increases vulnerability.
Why this matters beyond Africa
The authors of the assessment stress that Africa serves as an early warning rather than an outlier: where digitization proceeds rapidly and defenses are thin, attacks surface earlier. AI‑based tools and techniques diffuse quickly, and organized cybercriminal groups already reach into Europe and North America. The report’s broader point is that technological diffusion does not discriminate by intent.
Conclusion
Interpol’s findings make clear that while the numbers were first recorded in Africa, the underlying threat is global. Response teams and task forces are not currently scaling up fast enough to outpace software‑enabled attackers. Without improved information sharing and stronger institutional readiness, the report suggests further increases in losses and risk are likely.
