MIL Africa Engine

In the fight against phishing, forward-thinking organisations are winning. But there’s a twist. The heightened vigilance that has empowered employees to detect suspicious emails is now creating a new dilemma: legitimate, business-critical messages are being flagged, ignored, or buried in spam folders. And in today’s AI-fuelled cyber landscape, that reaction may be as justified as it is damaging.

Phishing works and it’s reshaping trust

The release of generative AI tools has supercharged phishing attempts. KnowBe4’s Phishing Threat Trend Report 2025 (https://apo-opa.co/4kdUXIx) shows that more than 80% (https://apo-opa.co/3TNjJnN) of the analysed phishing emails were augmented by AI, and they’re far more convincing than before. 

“The gut-check we used to rely on has been gamed – and even the large language models now being explored to help detect suspicious emails are also struggling,” says Anna Collard, SVP of Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 Africa. “They’re forced to dig deeper, assessing tone, context, and subtler red flags.”

The result? Suspicion is now the default

And it’s not unwarranted. Maturing cybersecurity awareness and phishing simulation programs have helped sharpen employees’ scepticism (https://apo-opa.co/3GpDVcj). But this success has revealed a new problem: overcorrection.

Emails that are real – from HR, IT, legal, or sales – are now increasingly being misjudged. In some cases, they’re wrongly flagged as phishing by either people or systems.

In others, they’re simply ignored. The irony is that some of the most common and legitimate corporate communication traits are now the very ones that raise red flags:

• Urgency: “Sign this by COB today”; or when every email from a colleague is marked “urgent”
• Unexpected senders: e.g. HR tools or SaaS platforms
• Calls to action: “Click here to confirm”
• Stylistic quirks: overly polished copy, too many links or bold phrases
• Tech misalignments: emails from legitimate senders failing DMARC or DKIM checks

“Even just using a third-party sender domain can cause confusion,” says Collard. “If staff don’t expect it – or don’t recognise the platform – the message can get flagged.”

For good reason too, as according to KnowBe4’s Phishing Threat Trend Report (https://apo-opa.co/4kdUXIx) the top 5 legitimate platforms used to send out phishing emails include popular business tools such as DocuSign, Paypal, Microsoft, Google Drive, and Salesforce.

The cost of false positives

When real emails get sidelined, the impact is more than a missed message. Delayed IT updates, ignored HR deadlines, and lost sales opportunities can create serious ripple effects across operations. Deliverability issues also erode trust. And in high-stakes environments like healthcare, legal services or finance, false positives can become costly very quickly.

So, how do you write emails that get read – not flagged?

To combat this growing challenge, organisations need to stop thinking of phishing risk as purely a recipient problem. Legitimate internal emails need to look legitimate too.

Here’s how every team – from HR to IT to marketing – can write more trustworthy emails:

Write Like a Human, Deliver Like a Pro

Get your digital paperwork in order

Even the best-written email may never reach its recipient if your authentication protocols aren’t properly configured. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are three essential technical settings that help prove your email really came from your domain.

• SPF tells email providers which servers are allowed to send emails using your domain name — helping stop spammers from pretending to be you.
• DKIM adds a digital signature to your emails to prove they really came from you and weren’t changed along the way.
• DMARC brings SPF and DKIM together by setting rules for what to do with suspicious emails (like send them to spam or block them) and sends reports to your IT team so they can spot abuse.

“These protocols are a bit like a digital passport,” Collard explains. “Without them, even a genuine email may not make it through.”

But even technically sound emails can fall flat if they don’t look legitimate to the reader. That’s why it’s just as important to consider how your internal teams craft and send messages.

Internal brand security: don’t just train recipients – train senders too

Cyber awareness is often focused on detection. But to maintain deliverability and trust, sender behaviour matters too. Teach teams to avoid accidental red flags. Share templates and subject line guides. And ensure that employees – especially those sending to large groups – understand the basics of trustworthy communication.

Consistency is key. Make sure communications come from the same official addresses, follow familiar formats, and maintain a recognizable tone. This teaches recipients what to expect – and what to be cautious of – building a clearer line between legitimate messages and possible fakes.

“This is part of internal brand hygiene,” says Collard. “When your team consistently communicates clearly and predictably, you build trust over time – with both employees and clients. That trust makes your emails easier to recognise, safer to deliver, and more likely to be opened.”

In a world where AI can impersonate your tone and template with ease (https://apo-opa.co/3TPcb3X), your best defence is to sound like yourself – and help others know what to expect when you speak.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of KnowBe4.

Contact details:
Anne Dolinschek
KnowBe4
Email: anned@knowbe4.com

TJ Coenraad
Red Ribbon
Email: tj@redribboncommunications.co.za

South Africa’s predominantly cash-based economy is making significant inroads into the e-commerce sector, thanks to the growing success of the partnership between financial services platform Mukuru (www.Mukuru.com) and payment gateway Payfast by Network. For over a year, the two businesses have been enabling access to online shopping for cash-paying South Africans. Through MukuruPay (MPay), cash-first customers can now participate in digital commerce, unlocking new market segments for thousands of local retailers. 

The partnership’s success stems from its ability to address a long-standing gap in the e-commerce market—the exclusion of millions of South Africans who prefer or rely on cash. A recent Payfast (https://apo-opa.co/4eMSDXX) “State of Pay” report shows that cash is the fourth preferred payment methods for customers and competes with widely used options such as card, open banking/ instant EFT and QR code. Likewise, an SBV Cash Survey 2024 (https://apo-opa.co/40shqdC) white paper outlines that 22% (over 13 million) of South Africans are cash-reliant and are not willing or cannot switch to other forms of payment. The study reveals that this group is vulnerable in the shift to digital services, despite holding immense economic potential.  

Mukuru’s partnership with Payfast is helping to bridge the gap between cash and digital commerce by making e-commerce more accessible to cash-first consumers in South Africa. Throughout 2024, the company has seen a growing number of businesses adopt its payment option via Payfast, reflecting increased demand across sectors such as internet services, digital goods, fashion, groceries, bill payments, and education.  

Timothee Dura, Head of Merchant Payments at Mukuru, says, “South Africa’s e-commerce cannot accept only cards and digital payment methods like EFTs or wallets. It needs to work for everyone. We are bridging the digital divide by meeting cash-first consumers where they are—offering them convenience and access to goods and services that were previously out of reach with a payment method that is familiar to them. This is how we build a more inclusive financial ecosystem in South Africa.” 

For merchants, MPay offers a way to reach customers who have traditionally been excluded from online shopping due to their reliance on cash. The payment method builds on Mukuru’s long-standing experience with cash-first communities and is available through the Payfast by Network dashboard for registered merchants. Once MPay is enabled, a customer shopping on the merchant’s online store selects Mukuru as the payment option at checkout. The system generates a unique order number, valid for 36 hours. The customer can then pay in cash at any of Mukuru’s 11,000+ payment points across South Africa—including major retailers like Spar, Pick n’ Pay, Boxer, and Shoprite.  

As soon as the customer pays, Mukuru alerts the merchant—enabling swift order fulfilment. MPay also helps merchants reduce operational costs by cutting down on cash handling, removing the need for cash-on-delivery, and minimising the risk of fraud.  

 For consumers, MPay presents an alternative to cash on delivery, particularly relevant in informal or rural areas, where logistical challenges and safety concerns are more frequent. It enables participation in digital commerce while retaining the familiarity of cash payments, facilitated through Mukuru’s established physical network. 

“The increasing adoption of MPay on Payfast by merchants reflects our conviction that cash-first customers are critical to South Africa’s e-commerce economy. We remain committed to bridging the gap between cash and digital payments, creating safer, regulated, and accessible pathways for unbanked and underserved communities to participate in the formal economy”, concludes Dura. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mukuru.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES: 
Kgomotso Hlakudi: 
Email: kgomotso.hlakudi@mukuru.com
(+27) 73 333 1672 

About Mukuru:  
Mukuru is a leading next generation financial services platform in Southern Africa that offers affordable and reliable financial services to a customer base of over 17 million+ across Africa, Asia and Europe. With over 100 million transactions to date, our core was built providing international money transfers and from this base, we’ve developed a set of services to address the broader financial needs of our customers. We now operate in over 70 countries and across over 570 remittance corridors. 

We are a business that puts the customer at the centre of everything we do, and for that reason, we serve clients across physical and digital channels, by various payment methods (cash, card, wallet) as well as a range of engagement platforms including WhatsApp, USSD, contact centre, App, website, agents and a branch and booth network. 

Mukuru has been listed among the top 100 Cross Border Payments businesses globally for the sixth consecutive year in the 2025 FXC Intelligence Top 100 Cross-Border Payment Companies. In 2024, Mukuru won the IAMTN Payments Network Customers Experience Excellence Award for exceptional customer satisfaction and was accredited as a Top Employer in South Africa for 2024 and 2025 by the Top Employers Institute.  

In 2023, Mukuru ranked sixth on the LinkedIn Top Companies List in South Africa. We aso received the Fintech Innovation of the Year Award at the 2023 Africa Tech Festival Awards for its role in driving economic growth and financial inclusion.  

Further information can be found at: https://apo-opa.co/44x1h87

NBA Africa (www.NBA.com), Stanbic Bank and the Luol Deng Foundation tipped off the second season of the Stanbic Jr. NBA League for boys and girls ages 16 and under at Nimra Talata Basketball Stadium in Juba, South Sudan last Saturday. 

The league, featuring 28 boys and girls’ teams, will play regular season games through September, which will be followed by the second edition of playoffs and finals in October.

Prior to the season’s tip-off, a league draw was held at St. Mark’s Orthodox School on Thursday, where participating school teams selected jerseys of NBA teams which they will represent throughout the season. This was followed by a basketball clinic for 40 coaches and educators on Friday. 

The inaugural season’s finals took place at Nimra Talata Basketball Stadium in Juba last August with two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng and 1995 NBA All-Star Cedric Ceballos in attendance. Juba One 76ers were crowned the inaugural season’s champions.

The Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA is the league’s global youth basketball program for boys and girls that teaches the fundamental skills and core values of the game – teamwork, respect, determination and community – at the grassroots level in an effort to help grow and improve the youth basketball experience for players, coaches and parents. The Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA program has been launched in 19 African countries, reaching more than 350,000 youth from across the continent last year.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of National Basketball Association (NBA).

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Today in Al-Alamain City, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi received Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army, Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar. The meeting was attended by Libya’s Chief of Security Units Staff, Lieutenant General Khaled Haftar, and Libya’s Chief of Staff of the Ground Forces, Lieutenant General Saddam Haftar, as well as Egypt’s Director of the General Intelligence Service, Major General Hassan Rashad.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Ambassador Mohamed El-Shennawy, said the meeting underscored the special and close brotherly relations between Egypt and Libya. President El-Sisi reiterated that Libya’s stability is an integral part of Egypt’s national security. The President stressed that Egypt is exerting utmost efforts, in coordination with Libyan parties and the General Command of the Libyan National Army, to reinforce security and stability in Libya, preserve its unity and sovereignty, and restore its development path. President El-Sisi emphasized Egypt’s full support for all initiatives aimed at achieving these objectives.

President El-Sisi expressed Egypt’s commitment to preserving the unity and cohesion of Libyan state institutions, reaffirming the vital need to strengthen coordination among all Libyan parties to develop a comprehensive political roadmap, paving the way for simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections. President El-Sisi underlined the urgent need to counter foreign interference and work to facilitate the departure of all foreign forces and mercenaries from Libyan territory.

President El-Sisi expressed Egypt’s appreciation for the national role played by the Libyan National Army in combating terrorism, which contributed to eliminating terrorist organizations in eastern Libya. Field Marshal Haftar voiced his profound appreciation for Egypt’s pivotal role in restoring security and stability in Libya. He lauded Egypt’s unyielding efforts in supporting and assisting the Libyan people since the outbreak of the crisis, grounded in the historical relations that unite the two brotherly peoples. Field Marshal Haftar also valued Egypt’s active contribution to transferring its development experience to Libya and benefiting from the expertise of leading Egyptian companies. He affirmed commitment to overcoming challenges and realizing the Libyan people’s aspirations for stability and prosperity.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

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The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Sanitation, Mr Leon Basson, has called for effective communications to communities who will be affected by the planned maintenance of the Rand Water system.

“While we welcome the planned maintenance of the bulk system, it is important that communities are kept up to date on when they will face shortages and intervening plans to provide water,” Mr Basson emphasised.

The Chairperson also welcomed Rand Water’s proactive maintenance of the bulk system. The committee has consistently maintained that proactive system maintenance is essential to ensure the availability of water and reduce non-revenue water.

Despite this, the committee remains concerned that municipalities are not taking the initiative regarding the maintenance of the reticulation system. “It is unacceptable that municipalities are not maintaining their systems, which undercuts the maintenance by Rand Water. If the system is not maintained from source to tap, the value chain will continue to experience high non-revenue water. We reiterate the call for municipalities to come on board and invest in maintenance programmes for their system,” Mr Basson concluded.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.