Google.org, the philanthropic arm of the global technology giant, has announced a significant funding partnership with the CyberSafe Foundation to launch Resilio Africa, a three-year, $2 million cybersecurity resilience project.
The program is designed to drastically reduce the growing risks of cyberattacks targeting institutions and communities across Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing specifically on Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa.
This initiative marks one of the most ambitious community-building efforts in Africa’s cybersecurity ecosystem.
Resilio Africa is set to strengthen the cyber resilience of 200 Critical Community Institutions (CCIs) in the region through the provision of free technical tools, comprehensive assessments, threat intelligence, and customized incident response frameworks.
Through this intervention, the project aims to protect over 2 million people and secure more than 15 million public records across the four target nations.
Citing the widespread vulnerability across the continent, CyberSafe Foundation noted that critical community infrastructure is increasingly targeted by cyberattacks but lacks the necessary resources to combat them effectively.
These institutions manage vast amounts of sensitive data yet often operate on outdated systems with limited cybersecurity capacity, low awareness of digital threats, and zero dedicated security budgets.
Supporting this concern, INTERPOL reported that Africa experienced a 23% increase in ransomware attacks in 2023, with public and nonprofit institutions being among the most impacted.
Furthermore, data from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s Global Cybersecurity Index indicates that more than 60% of African countries fall into the “low commitment” category regarding national cybersecurity readiness, creating a dangerous gap that cybercriminals actively exploit.
"At Google.org, we believe that access to secure digital systems is a cornerstone of inclusive growth,” said Haviva Kohl, Senior Program Manager, Google.org. “Our support for CyberSafe Foundation’s CCI.
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