10 percent of Nigerians affected by data breaches since 2004 — Report

At least 10 out of every 100 Nigerians have fallen victim to data breaches since 2004, according to a new report by Surfshark, raising serious concerns about the country’s long-standing vulnerability to cybercrimes.

The research is based on data gathered from 29,000 publicly available databases. Each unique breached email address is treated as a separate user account, and breaches often include additional personal data such as passwords, phone numbers, IP addresses, and postal codes.

Surfshark’s report before analysis, and countries with populations under 1 million were excluded from the study.

Findings of the report revealed that a staggering 23.2 million Nigerian user accounts have been compromised in the past two decades, an alarming figure in a country with an estimated population of over 230 million.

This includes 7.3 million unique email addresses and 13.1 million passwords.

“Cyberattacks remain persistent and growing threats globally, and Nigeria is no exception,” Surfshark stated in its analysis.

Despite a significant 85 percent drop in new data breaches in the first quarter of 2023 (falling from the previous quarter’s numbers), Nigeria still recorded over 110,000 breached accounts during the period. This places the country 34th worldwide in total breach volume.

“Even with the recent decline, the scale and depth of data breaches remain troubling,” it added.

According to the report, 56 percent of Nigerians are affected by breaches are at the highest risk of identity theft, accounting for the historic access to their online accounts.

In 2023 alone, an estimated one Nigerian account was breached into every five minutes, Surfshark noted.

The global picture also shows a dramatic shift: the number of breached accounts dropped 93 percent year-on-year—from nearly 94 million in Q1 2022 to just 6.3 million in Q1 2023.

Countries with the highest number of breached users include the United States (166 million), Russia (144.5 million), and India (42.4 million).

However, when adjusted for population, South Korea, Israel, and Slovenia reported the highest breach density, with South Sudan counting a mere 0.01 breached accounts per 1,000 residents.