Reviewing national cybersecurity awareness in Africa: An empirical study

Over the last years, there has been an unprecedented increase in cybercrime globally. Africa is a region with one of the highest rates of cybercrime and significant financial losses. Yet, awareness of risks in cyberspace amongst citizens of African countries is in its infancy and capacity building initiatives focusing on designing and implementing such campaigns are lacking. As part of the Global Cybersecurity Capacity Centre (GCSCC) programme, we visited six countries and assessed their cybersecurity posture based on the Cybersecurity Capacity Maturity Model for Nations (CMM) developed by the GCSCC. In this paper, we analyse qualitative data collected by conducting focus groups with experts in awareness campaigns during our visits. We reflect on best practice approaches for developing campaigns and draw conclusions on what the current state of African countries is regarding awareness in risks from cybercrime, what are the main obstacles in combating cybercrime and how countries should identify and prioritise their actions. We believe that our paper contributes in research concerned with how to mitigate cybercrime