Online threats in Africa are becoming similar to those in the rest of the world according to experts from Kaspersky Lab.

The great adoption of the internet across the continent is a breeding ground for targeted attack and general infections.

"Cyber criminals now don't care about the industry and the country where they are targeting," Kirill Kertsenbaum, head of presales management told ITWeb Africa.

According to their statistics the majority of infections in Kenya are caused locally, meaning that the use of USB sticks between computers continues to perpetuate virus infection across the country.

"Last year for Africa we see that the rate of infection is pretty much the same with the rates in Asia," said Kertsenbaum, adding that this was based on similar uptake of technology in the two continents.

Kertsenbaum continued saying that in Kenya, in February, the Company saw 55,000 of their customers infected with one malware or another.

He said that almost 18 percent of their users are infected with malware. Web threats account for an infection rate of 10 percent, while network attacks are responsible for just two percent of their infected customers.

Kertsenbaum said that there is not much information on the ground on how people can protect themselves from infection.

Kaspersky Lab wants to introduce corporate training in Africa to sensitise businesses and government to the growth of internet threats.

Mikhail Nagorny, head of business development, Security Intelligence Services at Kaspersky Lab told ITWeb Africa that education is the greatest tool in fighting security, but this is lacking in emerging markets.

"One of my jobs is to conduct education in creating awareness of the threats and also conduct professional training," Nagorny said.

This, he said, would help organisations be sensitive to potential loopholes in their security.