Zimbabwe’s Digital Crossroads: The Top 5 Cybersecurity Threats 2025

Zimbabwe stands at a critical juncture in its digital evolution. The nation is experiencing rapid growth in digital adoption, with mobile phone penetration soaring past 100% and fixed broadband access steadily increasing.This digital expansion promises significant opportunities for economic growth and social development. However, this progress is occurring within an environment constrained by persistent economic difficulties, a severe shortage of skilled professionals, and an underdeveloped cybersecurity policy and institutional framework.This confluence of factors has created a high-risk environment where cybersecurity is often an afterthought rather than a core strategic imperative. As a result, Zimbabwe’s burgeoning digital future is directly threatened by its lagging cyber resilience. This article outlines the top 5 cybersecurity threats—the "hit list"—that confront the nation, highlighting the urgent need for foundational improvements to protect its digital assets and citizens.

5. Undeclared Nation-State Espionage

Beyond financially motivated cybercrime, Zimbabwe is also on the radar of sophisticated, state-sponsored advanced persistent threat (APT) groups. Threat intelligence has documented the activity of APT34, also known as OilRig, an Iranian-linked espionage group, actively targeting Zimbabwe's telecommunications sector. This activity is part of a broader international intelligence-gathering campaign, indicating that Zimbabwe's critical infrastructure is considered a target of interest by foreign state actors. This threat operates on a different level from common cybercrime, focusing on long-term infiltration and data exfiltration for strategic purposes rather than immediate financial gain. The secretive nature of these operations makes them particularly dangerous, as the compromise may go undetected for extended periods.

4. Ransomware and Data Locking

Given the low overall cybersecurity maturity and lack of institutional preparedness across sectors, businesses and public sector organizations in Zimbabwe are highly vulnerable to ransomware attacks.[1, 2] In these incidents, criminals gain unauthorized access to a network, encrypt critical data, and demand a ransom payment (often in cryptocurrency) to restore access. The absence of a formally established national Computer Incident Response Team (CIRT) severely limits the country's capacity to coordinate a response to such an attack, leaving individual organizations isolated and with few resources to call upon for assistance.[4, 5] This lack of a centralized, expert response mechanism significantly increases the potential for damage, prolonged downtime, and financial losses from a successful ransomware campaign.

3. Basic Web Application Vulnerabilities

Many websites and online services hosted in Zimbabwe, particularly those run by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and even some government entities, suffer from basic web application vulnerabilities. These can include SQL injection flaws, cross-site scripting (XSS), and insecure direct object references, which are easily exploited by even moderately skilled attackers. The prevalence of these weaknesses is often due to a lack of secure coding practices during development, infrequent security audits, and the use of outdated content management systems (CMS) or plugins. Successful exploitation of these vulnerabilities can lead to website defacement, data theft, and the compromise of user accounts, undermining trust in online services.

2. Social Engineering and Phishing Campaigns

Social engineering, particularly through phishing emails and smishing (SMS phishing), remains a rampant and highly effective threat in Zimbabwe. These attacks leverage human psychology to trick individuals into divulging sensitive information such as login credentials, banking details, or personal identification numbers. Criminals often impersonate trusted institutions like banks, mobile network operators, or government agencies to lend credibility to their schemes. The general lack of widespread public awareness regarding cybersecurity best practices, combined with limited digital literacy in some segments of the population, makes citizens and employees particularly susceptible to these deceptive tactics, leading to direct financial losses and identity theft.

1. Financial Sector and Mobile Money Exploitation

In line with trends across much of the continent, Zimbabwe's financial sector—and particularly its burgeoning mobile money ecosystem—stands as the primary target for cybercriminals.[2, 6] With a large portion of the economy being informal, mobile network operators and financial institutions that drive the mobile money system are highly attractive targets. The most prevalent threats are foundational cybercrimes designed to steal credentials and defraud users of these digital financial services. These include:

• Identity Theft: The illegal use of another person's private information for fraudulent purposes.[1, 2]

• Malware: Malicious software installed on victims' devices to steal identifying information and compromise financial accounts, often distributed through deceptive links or apps.[1, 2]

• Account Takeover: Criminals gaining unauthorized access to mobile money or bank accounts, often facilitated by phishing or malware, to drain funds.

The tangible risk to this sector was confirmed in October 2024, when the Minister of Information Communication Technology revealed that local entities, including banks, had recently fallen victim to hacking incidents, underscoring that this is an active and ongoing threat.[7] The exploitation of these digital payment systems directly undermines financial stability and consumer trust, posing the most significant and immediate threat to Zimbabwe's digital economy.

Conclusion: Building Resilience from the Ground Up

Zimbabwe's cyber vulnerabilities are deep, systemic, and interconnected. The country is ranked 129th on the global cybersecurity index, a reflection of its significant challenges.[2, 6] Key weaknesses include the lack of a published national cybersecurity implementation plan or strategy, a general deficiency of public awareness and skills to combat cybercrime, and, most critically, a massive shortage of cybersecurity specialists.This skills gap is severely exacerbated by an "unprecedented brain drain," as skilled personnel leave the country in search of better opportunities.

While the nation has made a positive legislative step with the passage of the Cyber and Data Protection Act of 2021, which established a Cyber Security Centre within the Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ), critical institutional gaps remain.Most notably, Zimbabwe has yet to publish a formal national cybercrime strategy or establish a dedicated national CIRT, both of which are fundamental components of a modern and effective national cyber defense architecture.

This situation has created a self-perpetuating cycle of risk, often described as a "cybersecurity poverty trap." The critical shortage of local cybersecurity talent prevents the country from developing a robust national posture and the necessary institutions (like a national CIRT) to manage cyber risks effectively. In turn, this weak institutional environment, characterized by a lack of high-level career opportunities, poor funding, and limited professional development paths, directly fuels the brain drain. Skilled individuals, seeing few prospects at home, are incentivized to leave. This vicious cycle—where the skills gap prevents progress and the lack of progress drives away talent—is Zimbabwe's single greatest cyber vulnerability. Addressing these foundational issues is paramount for the nation to secure its digital future and realize the full potential of its technological advancements.