Mastercard reports African cyberattacks surged 421.4 percent between 2016 and 2025, with Morocco ranking third on the continent as officials gather in Rabat for Morocco CyberSecurity Week to address digital vulnerabilities, cloud governance, and critical infrastructure protection.
African organizations faced 69,236 cyberincidents in 2025, averaging roughly one attack every eight minutes, according to a white paper released by Mastercard titled Africa’s Digital Defense Race. The data shows that the continent’s share of global cyberattacks rose from about 3.4 percent to 4.4 percent over the decade, as rapid digitalization outpaces regional security measures.
Mastercard Ranks Morocco Third in Continental Cyber Exposure for 2025
The Mastercard report details how payment expansion and mobile platforms have transformed African commerce while simultaneously widening the attack surface for malicious actors. Between 2016 and 2025, mobile payment users multiplied by 5.9, digital banking users grew 4.7 times, and the e-commerce market expanded 5.3 times, with digital payments projected to reach $1,500 billion by 2030.
That economic growth coincides with a heavy concentration of threats in specific markets. Morocco captured the third spot with 10.6 percent of the 69,236 continental events.
Financial institutions, government networks, and telecommunications operators bore the brunt of the activity, absorbing 44 percent of attacks in 2025. Organized criminal networks and malicious hackers accounted for more than 60 percent of recorded incidents. At the same time, the continent faced an estimated deficit of roughly 200,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions by the end of 2025, representing a 23 percent workforce gap.
Rabat Hosts National CyberSecurity Week Amid Infrastructure Push
Against this backdrop of rising threats, the Direction Générale de la Sécurité des Systèmes d’Information, operating under the Administration de la Défense Nationale, launched the Morocco CyberSecurity Week in Rabat. Running from October 12 to October 14, 2026, the high-level gathering convenes government officials, African ministers, and international experts around the theme Cybersecurity in the service of digital transformation and development
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Abdeltif Loudyi, ministre délégué auprès du Chef du gouvernement chargé de l’Administration de la Défense nationale, outlined four immediate priorities during the opening session: the formation of talents, support for companies in the national cybersecurity ecosystem, the protection of critical infrastructure, and taking into account challenges related to artificial intelligence. Opening the event alongside government representatives, Loudyi emphasized that protecting national information systems and building collective resilience has become an absolute necessity rather than a hypothetical risk, noting that artificial intelligence accelerates the impact of modern cyberattacks.
Industrial collaboration took center stage as telecom operators and technology vendors lined up new partnerships. Orange Maroc used the Rabat forum to detail its expanded security stack, showcasing technical alliances with Fortinet, NETSCOUT, and Ivanti to safeguard enterprise networks and operational technology systems. Meanwhile, corporate security leaders debated multicloud governance, data sensitivity, and shared responsibilities between cloud providers and corporate clients under Morocco’s Law 09-08.
Regional Cooperation and Interpol Enforcement Operations
Law enforcement and diplomatic channels are attempting to match the professionalization of cybercrime syndicates across the region.
The Rabat event integrated these cross-border concerns into its daily agenda. Meetings of the African Network of National Cybersecurity Authorities (ANCA) also convened on the sidelines to align regulatory defenses and incident response protocols across participating nations, while specialized training sessions were conducted by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR).