Businesses in Nigeria and across West Africa have been urged to strengthen their cyber resilience frameworks as the rapid adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, and digital services widens exposure to cyber threats. The warning came at the maiden West Africa edition of the SHIFT Conference hosted in Lagos by Commvault, an international cyber resilience company, where technology experts and cybersecurity professionals discussed the growing risks facing organizations in the region.
AI and Ransomware Threats on the Rise
Speaking at the conference, themed ‘The Cyber Resilience World Is Shifting Indeed’, Commvault executives said organizations could no longer rely solely on traditional disaster recovery systems. They noted that the rise of ransomware attacks, AI-driven threats, and hybrid cloud environments had made cyber recovery a critical business priority. Citing data from the Nigerian Communications Commission, Senior Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at Commvault, Rasheed Ola Jimoh, said that Nigeria records approximately 3,500 cyber-attacks every week. A significant portion of these, he said, carry a ransomware element, malicious software that locks an organization’s data and demands payment before restoring access.
“Every organization is going to face some form of attack, one way or the other. The question is whether they are ready to bounce back,” Ola Jimoh said.
Unprepared for Sophisticated Attacks
Corporate Vice President and General Manager for Commvault’s Emerging Markets, Fady Richmany, said many organizations are still unprepared for the scale and sophistication of modern cyber-attacks. According to him, businesses now need integrated protection covering identities, data, AI systems, and cloud infrastructure. “Once you have a breach or attack, your data can be encrypted or locked. Whatever disaster recovery planning you had before may no longer work. That is why organizations now need a cyber recovery strategy,” he said.
Richmany noted that the growing deployment of agentic AI systems was creating millions of non-human identities that could become vulnerable entry points for attackers if not properly secured. He added that organizations operating across multiple cloud platforms faced additional challenges because data had become fragmented across regions, software-as-a-service (SaaS) environments, and on-premise systems. He disclosed that global data showed organizations take an average of 24 days to recover fully from major cyber-attacks, warning that prolonged downtime could damage company reputations and disrupt critical services.
Cyber Recovery Strategy as a Solution
The solution Commvault is offering is what he calls a cyber recovery strategy: a separate, isolated copy of data stored in a secure vault, combined with what it describes as “cleanroom” testing, a controlled environment where organizations can rehearse recovery before a crisis actually hits. Senior Director, Sales Engineering Division at Commvault, Ravi Baldev Singh, said African enterprises could no longer afford to delay investments in cyber resilience infrastructure while waiting to observe developments in other markets.
Baldev said increasing digitalization across sectors such as banking, retail, and financial services had made resilient technology infrastructure a necessity rather than an option. He pointed to the growing dependence on digital payment systems, mobile banking, and online retail services, warning that prolonged outages caused by cyber-attacks could severely affect consumers and businesses alike.
Nigeria’s Strategic Role
Commvault’s General Manager for Sub-Saharan Africa, Cristobal Macedo, said Nigeria was selected for the conference because of its growing strategic importance within Africa’s technology ecosystem. Macedo said the company had expanded investments in the African market over the last three years due to the region’s increasing demand for enterprise cybersecurity and resilience services.
