Despite Kenya ranking low with regard to cyber criminal activity, internet security software company Kaspersky Lab has warned Kenyan businesses to better protect their data.

Data collected from the Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) revealed that for the first quarter of 2013, Kenya ranked 115 on a list of countries subject to web-based threats.

The research also found that the East African nation is ranked 80th in terms of countries where hosting services are used by cybercriminals.

According to Kaspersky, Kenya’s ranking in the KSN data places the country in the low risk and moderate category for web-based threats.

This in turn means that a number one ranking would be regarded as severe risk on such a ranking.

Nevertheless, regardless of Kenya’s low ranking, Kaspersky says that because the East African nation is developing broadband infrastructure it could become more prone to being targeted by cybercriminals.

The security company has stressed the importance of businesses protecting their critical and sensitive data.

Channel sales manager for East Africa at Kaspersky Lab, Bethwel Opil, has explained that the growth of Kenya's broadband infrastructure has resulted in growing cyber criminal activity in the country.

“While some businesses may view such rankings with little concern, they should in fact be taking these realities seriously as these statistics will only get worse if the growing threat of cybercrime is not understood and managed effectively,” he said.

"Cybercrime has been noted as one of the biggest challenges for the ministry of information, communication and technology, in Kenya, according to the cabinet secretary. In line with this, the Kenyan government declared war on cyber criminals in May 2013, which certainly indicates the severity of the issue in the country,” he continued.

A statement from Kaspersky reveals cybercriminals are no longer targeting just consumers, but rather are starting to place an emphasis on businesses around the world.

It has been reported that by the end of the 2012/13 financial year, some of the banks in Kenya had reported losses of millions of shillings as a result of cybercrimes.

Opil added, “While these crimes may have occurred through cyber criminals targeting the consumer, these figures reflect the impact such activity also has on the business market, which is also suffering. It is with this in mind that we are asking Kenyan businesses how safe their critical business data is and whether they are aware of the realities and threats today?”

Opil also emphasised the fact that businesses today support a much more mobile focused workforce, where critical data is now being stored on employees laptops, smartphones, tablets and other portable devices adds to the security threats.

The threat of malware is growing exponentially where cybercriminals are attacking businesses with both old and new types of malicious threats, said Opil.