21 May AI poses fresh challenges in Africa as future usage expected to grow

Artificial intelligence is expected to dominate Africa’s cybersecurity agenda through 2026, but industry leaders say adoption across the continent will ultimately be shaped by operational realities, digital trust and measurable business outcomes rather than hype alone.

Speaking ahead of the ITWeb Security Summit 2026 in Johannesburg, Sean Glansbeek, CEO of Private Protocol, said African organisations are increasingly prioritising resilience, simplification and efficiency as cyber threats grow more complex.

“A zero trust strategy is one of the most secure ways to protect an organisation’s users and resources because it addresses most of the major breach vectors by design. Beyond improving security, zero trust can reduce operational complexity, create more resilient and cloaked infrastructure, and potentially reduce overall IT security spending by between 40% and 50%,” said Glansbeek.

Commenting on Africa’s cybersecurity market through 2026, Glansbeek said identity and cloud security are accelerating rapidly as organisations expand their digital infrastructure.

“Traditional perimeter-led security models are increasingly struggling in hybrid and multicloud environments,” he said.

The shift comes as African organisations aggressively migrate toward Azure, AWS and SaaS environments while simultaneously confronting rising AI-enabled cyber threats.

Those concerns are becoming especially visible in East Africa.

During the GITEX AI Everything Kenya event in Nairobi, cybersecurity researchers warned that artificial intelligence is introducing an entirely new category of risks across the region’s growing digital economy.

According to Tanzania Times, experts explained that AI is now being used to automate phishing campaigns, generate convincing fake identities and scale cyberattacks faster than many organisations can defend against them.

The report noted that East African businesses are increasingly facing threats linked to AI-powered fraud, deepfakes and unauthorised ‘Shadow AI’ usage inside organisations as employees adopt generative AI tools without governance or security oversight.

At the same time, operational pressure is reshaping how African organisations evaluate cybersecurity investments.

“Organisations are under pressure to reduce technology sprawl, skills shortages and operational complexity, meaning solutions that consolidate capability, automate outcomes and improve measurable resilience will gain traction,” said Glansbeek.

That pressure is expected to intensify as governments and regulated industries place greater emphasis on digital sovereignty, compliance and control over critical infrastructure.

“Governments and regulated industries, particularly financial services, healthcare and the public sector, are increasingly focused on where data resides, who controls it and how compliance can be demonstrated. We are already seeing stronger demand for sovereign cloud models, local hosting and AI governance frameworks emerging across Africa,” he said.

Across East Africa, financial institutions, telecom operators and public sector agencies are rapidly expanding AI deployment across customer service, fraud detection and digital identity systems. But cybersecurity experts warn that many organisations still lack mature governance frameworks, resilience testing and operational visibility needed to defend against increasingly sophisticated attacks.

Economic realities are also expected to shape adoption decisions across the continent.

“African organisations will favour technologies that demonstrate fast ROI, measurable risk reduction and genuine business enablement rather than solutions driven purely by market hype. The winners in 2026 will be those that can clearly connect cyber security to operational efficiency, resilience and business growth,” Glansbeek concluded.

As AI continues transforming Africa’s digital economy, cybersecurity is increasingly being viewed as a technical requirement, as well as a core foundation for economic trust, resilience and sustainable digital growth. But how will businesses get around its risks?