Over N1 billion in fraud went undetected in West Africa in H1 2026 — Report

A new report by Cybersecurity firm, esentry, has revealed that more than N1 billion in fraud went undetected by automated security systems across West Africa in the first half of 2026, exposing gaps in the monitoring systems used by financial institutions.

The firm’s Eye of Horus H1 2026 Threat Landscape Report found that three major fraud incidents investigated across Nigeria’s fintech, payment and core banking sectors were completed without triggering a single security alert.

The incidents were discovered only after the transactions had occurred, through routine audits, customer support tickets and settlement warnings, highlighting the limitations of automated security systems when attackers exploit legitimate credentials and trusted access.

According to the report, the incidents were not primarily driven by sophisticated software vulnerabilities but by attackers abusing existing access privileges, compromised sessions and weaknesses in security logging.

The report described Nigeria’s cybersecurity environment as increasingly exposed, with organisations facing an average of more than 4,700 attacks per week during the first half of 2026.

However, the report noted that faster responses to detected threats do not necessarily translate into comprehensive security coverage, particularly when organisations lack the logs needed to identify suspicious activities.

Commenting on the findings, Gbolabo Awelewa, Chief Business Officer at esentry, said cybercriminals were increasingly exploiting trusted systems rather than relying exclusively on technical vulnerabilities.

He added that credential compromise, software supply chain attacks, the abuse of trusted platforms and the growing use of artificial intelligence by threat actors were expanding the range of potential entry points for cyberattacks.

According to him, organisations need continuous visibility, proactive threat hunting and the ability to identify malicious behaviour before it translates into financial or operational losses.

The report identified similar cybersecurity challenges in Ghana, where the national Computer Emergency Response Team recorded more than 3,500 confirmed cybersecurity incidents in the first quarter of 2026.

According to esentry’s threat intelligence team, the individual was traced to Thessaloniki, Greece, and had claimed responsibility for breaches involving more than 35 organisations across over 26 countries since June 2025.

The claims reportedly included an alleged database from a major Nigerian bank, although esentry noted that the breach had not been confirmed.

The report also highlighted weaknesses in organisations’ security architecture, drawing on 175 offensive security engagements conducted by esentry during the review period.

It also advised organisations to make outbound network traffic logging and the retention of authentication source IP addresses baseline security requirements rather than optional upgrades.

Another report by Check Point Research had highlighted the preponderance of cyberattacks on Nigerian businesses, revealing that the country recorded an average of 4,906 cyberattacks per organisation every week in August 2026.

This represented a 45% year-on-year increase and placed Nigeria among the most targeted markets in Africa.

Nigeria’s average was more than twice the global figure of 2,422 weekly attacks per organisation and was second only to Angola among the four African countries covered in the report.

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