By Vriti Gothi
Africa’s fast-growing fintech ecosystem, which has become a catalyst for digital payments, mobile banking, and financial inclusion, may be dangerously overestimating its cybersecurity readiness. A new study released by KnowBe4, the global cybersecurity platform for human risk management, warns of a growing disconnect between leadership perceptions and employee realities across key industries, with fintech emerging as a particularly vulnerable sector.
The Africa Human Risk Management Report 2025 surveyed decision-makers across 30 countries and uncovered a worrying paradox: leaders believe their organisations are well-prepared to withstand cyber threats, yet employees on the ground report a very different experience. This misalignment, KnowBe4 suggests, could leave fintech firms exposed to costly breaches at a time when digital financial services are becoming the backbone of Africa’s economic transformation.
One of the clearest gaps highlighted by the report is the difference between awareness and action. While many fintech leaders rated employee security awareness as high, only 10 percent expressed confidence that staff would report a phishing attempt or similar threat. This confidence gap is particularly concerning for financial technology providers, which are prime targets for phishing, account takeovers, and social engineering fraud. Without robust follow-through, awareness campaigns risk creating a false sense of security rather than genuine resilience.
Training emerged as another weak link. Although 68 percent of leaders believed that their organisations provide role-specific security training, only a third of employees felt their training was tailored to their actual responsibilities. In a sector like fintech, where customer-facing teams handle sensitive transactions and developers manage high-value systems, generic training offered annually or biannually cannot match the sophistication of today’s cybercriminals. The result is a perception of preparedness at the top that fails to translate into practical readiness at the front lines.
The study also flagged structural vulnerabilities created by widespread reliance on personal devices for work. Between 41 and 80 percent of employees across industries admitted to using personal phones and laptops to access corporate systems. For fintechs, which depend on mobile-first engagement, this “bring your own device” culture introduces significant risk if those devices are inadequately secured. It only takes one compromised endpoint to undermine entire networks of digital transactions.
Adding another layer of concern is the slow pace of AI governance. Nearly half of the organisations surveyed are still drafting policies for the safe use of AI tools in the workplace. Given fintech’s rapid adoption of AI for fraud detection, credit scoring, and customer service, the absence of clear governance frameworks could create new security gaps even as the technology promises efficiency gains.
Anna Collard, SVP of content strategy and evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa, said, “Fintech innovation in Africa thrives on speed and accessibility, but without adaptive security cultures, these very strengths can turn into vulnerabilities. Awareness is not readiness, and fintech leaders must close the gap between confidence and actual employee behaviour.”