New information from Surfshark reveals the scale of email account breaches in Nigeria from 2004. The report provides both overall figures and comparisons with other African countries.
Total Email Breaches in Nigeria
Since 2004, Nigeria has recorded 23,268,560 email account breaches, accounting for 0.1% of total global breaches (23 billion). Nigeria ranks 55th globally in this regard. In the last decade (2015 to 2025), there have been 12,973,853 incidents, representing 56.5% of all breaches over three decades. The highest number of attacks occurred in Q2 2020 (3.6 million), followed by Q3 2024 (2.8 million). The report also notes a 73% decrease in breaches from 119,961 in Q1 2025 to 31,805 in Q2 2025.
Ranking of African Countries by Email Breaches
South Sudan leads Africa with 93,250,909 breaches, followed by South Africa (42,795,233). Nigeria is fourth with 23 million breaches. Other significant African countries include Egypt (25,928,441) and Morocco (18,537,807), as well as Ghana, Cameroon, and Senegal with breaches ranging from 3.7 to 5.9 million.
Increase in Cyberattacks Worldwide
Globally, the total number of breached accounts since 2004 has reached 23.1 billion, including approximately 7.7 billion unique email addresses. The USA tops the list with 4.4 billion breaches, followed by Russia and China. According to a Kaspersky Security Network report, Africa experienced 131.6 million web threats in 2024, highlighting the pressing need for cybersecurity measures.
The Surfshark report emphasizes the growing cyber threats facing Nigeria and other countries, highlighting the urgent need for data protection measures.
