OpenAI Invests in AI Security, Morocco Investigates CNSS Data Breach, & Critical Vulnerabilities Exposed!
Morocco investigates a major data breach, OpenAI tackles AI-powered threats, and new vulnerabilities expose critical risks to organizations.
Dear subscriber, welcome to this week’s edition of the Top Tech Security Brief:
In this week's Industry News, we highlight OpenAI’s investment in Adaptive Security to fight AI-powered cyber threats, China’s admission to Volt Typhoon cyberattacks on U.S. infrastructure, and Fortinet's advancements in FortiAI for automated threat defense.
Our African Stories feature significant events such as the release of stolen data from Cell C, Morocco’s CNSS data breach with suspected political motives, Kenya’s legal move against Meta, and Ghana's upcoming law targeting misinformation.
In Threats and Vulnerabilities, we cover critical issues, including the active exploitation of vulnerabilities in CrushFTP, FortiSwitch, and Ivanti, as well as new advisories from CISA regarding ICS flaws and a widespread AkiraBot campaign targeting SMB websites.
We also share expert reports alongside a list of must-attend Upcoming Events in Africa for 2025.
Let’s dive in!
Industry News
OpenAI Invests in Adaptive Security to Combat AI-Powered Cyber Threats: OpenAI's Startup Fund invested in AI cybersecurity firm Adaptive Security, specializing in social engineering attack prevention. Adaptive Security aims to combat AI-driven phishing, deepfake, and malware attacks, helping organizations maintain security as AI-powered threats evolve. Read more
China Admits to Volt Typhoon Cyberattacks on US Infrastructure: China privately acknowledged Volt Typhoon cyberattacks targeting U.S. infrastructure during a December 2024 Geneva meeting. U.S. officials saw the attacks—impacting sectors like energy and telecom—as a warning over Taiwan-related tensions. Read more
FortiAI Enhances Automated Threat Defense and GenAI Integration: Fortinet's Fortinet has launched key updates to its FortiAI technology, improving threat detection, automation, and GenAI visibility. Integrated across the Fortinet Security Fabric, these advancements streamline security operations, boost efficiency, and enable proactive defense against AI-driven cyber threats. Read more
OCC Reports Major Email Breach Affecting 150,000 Messages: Hackers breached the U.S. Treasury’s OCC, accessing over 150,000 emails with sensitive financial data from regulated institutions. The attack, undisclosed for a year, exposed critical weaknesses. Officials are now reassessing cybersecurity policies and launching third-party investigations. Read more
African Stories
Hackers Finally Publish Cell C Stolen Data: After suffering a data breach for over two months, Cell C confirms that the stolen data has been disclosed publicly by RansomHouse, the threat actor responsible for the breach. Read more
Morocco’s CNSS Data Breach Exposes Millions in Suspected Political Cyberattack: Morocco’s CNSS suffered a major data breach exposing details of nearly 2 million employees. Hacker “jabaroot” leaked the data on the dark web, claiming it was retaliation for a previous attack on Algeria’s APS Twitter account. Experts confirmed the data’s authenticity, highlighting rising cyber tensions between Morocco and Algeria over the Western Sahara conflict. Read more
Kenyan Court Allows Lawsuit Against Meta for Promoting Violent Content in Ethiopia: Kenya’s High Court has ruled that Meta, Facebook’s parent company, can be sued in Kenya for allegedly promoting content that contributed to ethnic violence in neighboring Ethiopia. The plaintiffs argue that Facebook's recommendation algorithms played a significant role in amplifying violent posts, which heightened tensions during the Tigray conflict. Read more
Ghana to Enact Law Against Misinformation And Disinformation: Ghana plans to present a legal bill to address misinformation and disinformation. The law aims to enable enforcement, ensure accountability, and foster collaboration to combat harmful content. Read more
Threats and vulnerabilities
Organizations Using CrushFTP Should Patch Immediately to Mitigate Critical Vulnerability (CVE-2025-31161): CISA added a critical authentication bypass flaw in CrushFTP (CVE-2025-31161) to its KEV catalog due to active exploitation. Unpatched systems are vulnerable to session hijacking and unauthorized access, especially in enterprise and government networks. Read more
Fortinet Urges FortiSwitch Upgrades to Patch Critical Admin Password Change Flaw: Fortinet has released security updates to address a critical security flaw— tracked as CVE-2024-48887 with a CVSS score of 9.3 —impacting FortiSwitch that could permit an attacker to make unauthorized password changes. Read more
CISA Releases 10 ICS Advisories Covering Vulnerabilities & Exploits: CISA issued ten advisories on vulnerabilities affecting Industrial Control Systems (ICS). ICS products from vendors including Siemens, Rockwell, ABB, and INFINITT. These flaws, impacting sectors like energy and healthcare, pose risks such as remote code execution, privilege escalation, and unauthorized access. Read more
AkiraBot Targets Over 400,000 SMB Websites in AI-Driven Spam Campaign: AkiraBot is a Python-based framework designed to exploit contact forms and live chat widgets of small to medium-sized business websites. It has targeted over 400,000 websites since September 2024 and successfully spammed at least 80,000 websites to promote dubious Search Engine Optimization (SEO) services. Read more
OttoKit WordPress Plugin Admin Creation Vulnerability Under Active Exploitation: The vulnerability, identified as CVE-2025-3102 (CVSS score: 8.1), is an authorization bypass flaw that could allow an attacker to create administrator accounts under specific conditions and gain control of affected websites. Read more
Ivanti RCE Vulnerability CVE-2025-22457 Exploited by China-Linked Group: A China-linked group exploited a critical remote code execution flaw in Ivanti products. A public exploit is available. Ivanti has released or scheduled patches. Organizations should apply fixes or mitigations immediately. Read more
Reports
Upcoming Events in Africa
Africa CyberFest 2025 - 2 - 3rd May, 2025 (Nigeria)
BFSI Security Summit 2025 - 7th May, 2025 (South Africa)
IDC South Africa CIO Summit 2025 - May 13th, 2025 (South Africa)
Cyber Africa Forum 2025 - June 24-25, 2025 (Benin)
Check out the full list here.
Found this newsletter valuable?
Share it with your network—colleagues, peers, and professionals who care about cybersecurity in Africa and globally.
Together, we can raise awareness, drive collaboration, and build a more secure digital ecosystem.
Follow us on:
Thank you for being a part of this community. Stay safe, stay informed!