During K-next 2023 in Abidjan, a study carried out by the cybersecurity company Kapersky was released. According to this study, more than 27,500 Ivorian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) suffered 2.8 million cyberattacks during 2022.

The evolution of cybersecurity skills is lagging behind, while the Internet penetration rate in Africa has been increasing over the past decade. According to Kapersky, this situation could constitute a threat to the economic and strategic sovereignty of states. Indeed, 27,500 Ivorian SMEs suffered 2.8 million cyberattacks during 2022. This number of attacks represents an increase of more than 39% compared to attacks in the previous year (2021).

The communications manager at Kapersky West Africa, Noémie Minster announced that “81% of companies have never given or received cybersecurity training, 66% of respondents believe that cybersecurity is never addressed At the same time, management committees and 24% manage the cybersecurity issue alone, without calling on external professionals.” For Kapersky, “it is urgent to make this challenge a pillar in the development of the new Ivorian digital economy.” K-NeXT is part of this framework.