Google.org has announced funding support for a three-year cybersecurity resilience initiative aimed at securing more than 15 million public records and protecting over two million people across Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and South Africa, as cyberattacks increasingly target public and nonprofit institutions in sub-Saharan Africa.
The support comes amid mounting evidence of Africa’s growing cyber vulnerability. INTERPOL reported a 23 percent increase in ransomware attacks across the continent in 2023, with public sector and nonprofit organisations among the most affected. Data from the International Telecommunication Union’s Global Cybersecurity Index further show that more than 60 percent of African countries fall into the “low commitment” category for national cybersecurity readiness.
Read also: FATE Foundation gets $4m funding from Google.org for advanced AI upskilling
The project, tagged ‘Resilio Africa’, is being implemented by the CyberSafe Foundation and will focus on strengthening the cyber resilience of 200 Critical Community Institutions (CCIs) across the four countries. These institutions include organisations that provide essential services and manage large volumes of sensitive personal and public data.
According to the organisers, Resilio Africa will provide participating institutions with free cybersecurity tools, risk assessments, threat intelligence, and incident response frameworks designed to address growing vulnerabilities in Africa’s digital ecosystem. The initiative is positioned as one of the continent’s most ambitious community-focused cybersecurity capacity-building efforts.
Haviva Kohl, senior program manager at Google.org, said, “At Google.org, we believe that access to secure digital systems is a cornerstone of inclusive growth. Our support for CyberSafe Foundation’s CCI cybersecurity efforts reflect our shared commitment to empowering communities and protecting the institutions that serve them. Resilio Africa will help ensure that essential community organizations can
operate safely and confidently in an increasingly digital world.”
CyberSafe Foundation said the project responds to mounting evidence that critical community infrastructure across Africa is increasingly under attack, while lacking the resources and capacity to defend itself. The organisation cited data showing that many institutions operate outdated systems, have low awareness of digital threats, and often have no dedicated cybersecurity budgets.
The foundation warned that these gaps are being actively exploited by cybercriminals through ransomware, phishing, data breaches, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, disrupting public services, exposing sensitive data, and eroding trust in digital systems.
Country-specific data highlighted the scale of the challenge. In Kenya, more than 114 cyberattacks targeting critical community institutions were recorded in the first eight months of 2024, followed by a 201 percent increase in reported cyber incidents by the first quarter of 2025.
In Nigeria, the statement noted that key government and healthcare systems still rely on unencrypted communication protocols, while institutions in Ghana and South Africa face similar threats but lack the capacity to respond effectively.
Read also: Africa’s AI moment takes shape as Google unveils continent-wide skilling blueprint
Under the Resilio Africa programme, CyberSafe Foundation plans to deliver more than 10,000 hours of pro bono cybersecurity consulting, train over 4,500 employees and decision-makers through tiered programmes for executives, IT teams and general staff, and deploy customised cybersecurity playbooks tailored to institutional needs.
“Africa’s digital transformation cannot succeed if our communities remain vulnerable. With Google.org’s support, we are scaling a proven model of capacity-building that will help critical institutions become resilient, safeguard the people they serve, and preserve trust in digital public systems,” said Confidence Staveley, founder and executive director of CyberSafe Foundation.
Applications to participate in the Resilio Africa initiative are now open to eligible critical community institutions across the four countries.
