Nairobi, March 23 -- The reality of cyberthreat is now dawning on businesses as a sudden spike in hacking incidence rock the globe, forcing increased vigilance in cyber systems, which could lead to increased costs for businesses.

The International Monetary Fund is the latest victim in the new wave of cyberattacks, in which criminals appear to have changed tack and advancing sophistication, making it harder for businesses to thwart cyberthreats.

Last week, the global lender announced that it experienced a cyberattack in February, resulting in 11 of its official email accounts being compromised, exposing it to data leakage and unauthorised access of sensitive internal information.

"The IMF takes prevention of, and defence against, cyber ...