Nigeria Faces Increased Cybersecurity Breaches

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Nigeria has been placed at 34th worldwide in the number of breached accounts. Globally, the most affected countries were the United States with 16.9 million leaked accounts, followed by Russia (4.4 million), India (4.2 million), Germany (3.9 million), and Spain (2.4 million).

The latest global data breach report from cybersecurity firm Surfshark reveals that Nigeria recorded over 119,000 leaked data breaches in the first quarter of 2025. Surfshark’s research is based on data gathered from 29,000 publicly available databases. According to Surfshark’s long-term data, Nigeria remains one of the countries most affected by data breaches in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The research reveals that 10 in every 100 Nigerians have been affected by data breaches. Further analysis indicates an 85 per cent drop in leaked accounts in Nigeria from Q4 2024 to Q1 2025, in line with a global trend that saw leaked accounts plunge 93 per cent year-on-year, from 973.7 million in Q1 2024 to just 68.3 million in Q1 2025.

However, while the figure for Nigeria may appear alarming, it reflects a sharp decline in breach activity compared to previous quarters. Nigeria has been placed at 34th worldwide in the number of breached accounts. Globally, the most affected countries were the United States with 16.9 million leaked accounts, followed by Russia (4.4 million), India (4.2 million), Germany (3.9 million), and Spain (2.4 million).

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Since 2004, approximately 23.2 million Nigerian user accounts have been compromised, the report stated. The report noted that, “7.3 million unique email addresses were exposed. 13 million passwords were leaked alongside the accounts.