Microsoft has stated that African enterprises’ cloud journey requires holistic cybersecurity strategies from migration start to finish, noting that cybersecurity remains a significant concern for enterprises in Africa.
According to Microsoft Nigeria’s Country Manager, Ola Williams, Africa may lag behind the rest of the world’s cloud adoption with only 15 percent cloud penetration, the continent’s public cloud market has doubled in the past three years.
She said to remain competitive in a digitally transformed business environment, agile enterprises around the world have also adopted cloud technology to enable new ways of working for their distributed-, remote- and hybrid workforces.
Williams explained that enterprise-wide cloud adoption is increasing as digital-first business leaders look to ensure flexibility through hybrid work, market agility, and business continuity throughout their daily operations.
Speaking further, Williams said according to the Club of Information Security Experts in Africa (CESIA), in 2022, more than half of companies in Africa believe they are not prepared to handle a large-scale cyberattack.
And Interpol’s Africa Cyber threat Assessment report found that more than 90 percent of businesses on the continent operate without the necessary cybersecurity protocols.
Approximately 20 percent of organizations in Nigeria indicated that training non-IT employees in security awareness is one of the most important steps for increasing security. Although this percentage is fairly low, it is expected to increase, with many more organizations expected to launch security awareness campaigns.
She said as more enterprises embrace the public cloud, a crucial factor is often overlooked on this point: cybersecurity is a shared responsibility between the customer (the enterprise and its employees) and the provider.
