Cybersecurity Threats in Ghana: Navigating a Digital Landscape

Ghana is rapidly becoming one of West Africa’s most digitised nations. As the country embraces technology, accelerated fintech adoption, expanding e-commerce, and mobile money penetration, the need for robust cybersecurity has never been more pronounced. However, the increasing reliance on digital platforms has also made Ghana vulnerable to a multitude of cybersecurity threats.

Mobile Money Fraud and Digital Financial Crime

One of the most immediate concerns is mobile money fraud. Ghana boasts one of the most extensive mobile money ecosystems globally, with transactions exceeding GHC570 billion in 2024. However, this booming sector has attracted cybercriminals who exploit vulnerabilities through weak authentication methods, social engineering tactics, and SIM-swap attacks.

A 2025 threat assessment identified mobile money fraud as one of Ghana’s top cyber threats, driven by various malicious activities such as:

• Fake mobile money reversals: Fraudsters trick users into believing a transaction was reversed when it wasn’t.
• Social engineering via impersonation: Scammers posing as trusted figures to gain sensitive information from victims.
• Account takeover: Exploiting SIM-related vulnerabilities to hijack unsuspecting users’ accounts.
• Fraudulent digital lending schemes: Unscrupulous individuals creating fake lending platforms to steal personal data and money.

The widespread adoption of mobile payments has broadened the attack surface, making financial cybercrime a significant and persistent issue in Ghana.

Ransomware Targeting Critical Industries

Ransomware has emerged as one of Ghana’s most damaging cyber threats. In 2024, an alarming number of Ghanaian financial institutions were targeted by double-extortion ransomware attacks, where cybercriminals both encrypted and exfiltrated sensitive data.

Key sectors affected include:

• Banking & Fintech: Critical financial services that handle sensitive data.
• Healthcare: Hospital systems that have embraced digitisation are now susceptible to attacks, potentially jeopardising patient data.
• Energy providers: Essential services that, if attacked, can cripple infrastructure.
• Government Services: Vital national databases and public services face threats that could disrupt critical operations.

The financial and reputational damage from ransomware is expected to escalate as cybercriminals employ increasingly sophisticated tools.

Attacks on Critical National Infrastructure (CNI)

As Ghana’s infrastructure, including energy networks and telecommunications systems, becomes more digitised, its vulnerability to cyberattacks grows. Cybersecurity professionals have warned that attacks on critical national infrastructure are no longer hypothetical scenarios. Successful breaches could significantly disrupt national stability, impacting everything from electricity distribution to logistics in the Port of Tema.

Potential risks include:

• Disruption of electricity distribution: Cyberattacks could lead to widespread blackouts.
• Compromised port logistics and shipping systems: A successful breach could paralyze one of Ghana’s busiest ports.
• National telecom outages: Attacks could disconnect communication at a national level, crippling connectivity.
• Attacks on digital government platforms: Sensitive public services may become inaccessible, creating confusion and delays.

The government’s acknowledgment of this threat is reflected in the Cybersecurity (Amendment) Bill 2025, which seeks to bolster regulatory protections for critical national infrastructure.

Digital Identity Theft and Ghana Card Exploitation

The introduction of the Ghana Card, a nationwide biometric identification system, marks a significant step in the nation’s digital transformation. However, as the centralised identity database becomes increasingly integral to government services, it also represents a high-value target for cybercriminals.

Criminals can leverage stolen digital identities to commit a range of frauds:

• Opening fraudulent bank accounts: Using someone else’s identity to access funds fraudulently.
• Obtaining loans under false pretenses: Securing credit through impersonation.
• Committing online fraud and impersonation: Using stolen identities to scam others.

As the Ghana Card becomes further integrated into various services, the ramifications of identity theft become more severe.

Online Fraud, Scams, and Social Engineering

Ghana is grappling with rising cases of online scams. Common scams include:

• Business Email Compromise (BEC): Scammers impersonate employees to trick companies into transferring funds.
• Romance scams: Fraudsters exploit online dating platforms to manipulate emotional targets into sending money.
• Payment diversion fraud: Changing payment details for invoices to steal funds.
• Employment and scholarship scams: Offering non-existent job opportunities or scholarship funds to unsuspecting victims.

Recognising the urgency of these threats, the Cybersecurity Amendment Bill 2025 aims to address rising online fraud and enhance enforcement capabilities. Ghana reported GHC19 million in cybercrime losses within the first nine months of 2025, alongside a staggering 52% increase in reported cyber incidents.

Weak Supply Chain and Third-Party Security

As businesses in Ghana increasingly adopt cloud services and outsourced IT operations, vulnerabilities in the supply chain have surged. Attackers often target:

• Vendor-managed systems: Compromising third-party systems to gain access to larger networks.
• Payment processors: Attacking the intermediaries that manage digital transactions.
• Outsourced customer support systems: Exploiting poorly secured external service providers.
• Unpatched cloud workloads: Vulnerabilities that can be exploited if systems aren’t regularly updated.

Modern cyberattacks lean heavily on supply chain vulnerabilities, a trend underscored by numerous international cybersecurity reports.

Rising Sophistication of Cyber Attacks Enabled by AI

The rise of artificial intelligence has ushered in a new era of sophisticated cyber threats. Cybercriminals are now utilising AI-driven tactics that include:

• AI-powered phishing: Crafting highly convincing fraudulent messages to deceive individuals.
• Automated brute-force attacks: Using AI to predict and hack passwords more efficiently.
• Deepfake-enabled impersonation: Creating realistic audio or video impersonations for scams.
• AI-assisted malware evasion techniques: Developing malware that adapts to evade detection systems.

Experts recommend investing in AI-enabled defence mechanisms to combat the increasing complexity of these modern attacks.

Ghana’s digital transformation journey offers vast economic potential but also presents significant cybersecurity challenges. By enhancing security measures and adopting comprehensive strategies, the nation can safeguard its digital future.