Small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa are increasingly targeted by cyber attackers. Criminals know that many SMEs lack dedicated security teams, have limited budgets, and often rely on outdated systems or weak controls. At the same time, these businesses are becoming more digital, with cloud-based systems, online payments, and remote work arrangements.
Zero-Trust security offers a pragmatic approach for this new landscape. The core principle is simple: never assume that a user, device, or application is trustworthy based solely on its location or network. Instead, every access request is verified, authenticated, and authorised continuously, whether it originates from inside or outside the organisation.
For African SMEs, Zero-Trust does not need to be complex or expensive. It often starts with strengthening identity and access management, enforcing multi-factor authentication, and reducing shared or generic accounts. From there, organisations can apply least-privilege access, segment networks, and introduce monitoring tools that alert them to unusual behaviour.
Implementing Zero-Trust also forces organisations to understand their critical assets. They must identify which systems and data are most sensitive, who needs access to them, and what normal behaviour looks like. This clarity improves both security and governance, making it easier to respond to incidents and demonstrate compliance.
While no framework can eliminate risk entirely, Zero-Trust significantly reduces the blast radius of an attack. For African SMEs, this can be the difference between a recoverable incident and a business-ending breach.