Africa’s digital future hangs in the balance as cyberattacks surge

Source: Supplied. Shabir Ahmed, senior vice president: customer solutions center lead, Africa.

Between 2016 and 2025, mobile money users grew 5.9-fold, digital banking users 4.7-fold and e-commerce expanded 5.3 times, as Africa’s digital payments economy races towards $1.5tn by 2030. Yet cyber threats have surged alongside this transformation, exposing vulnerabilities that could undermine progress.

A new Mastercard-commissioned whitepaper, Africa’s Digital Defense Race, warns that strengthening cyber resilience, closing critical-skills gaps and deepening collaboration will be essential to securing the continent’s digital future.

Shabir Ahmed, senior vice president: customer solutions center lead, Africa, said: “Africa’s digital growth is creating real opportunity for people and businesses across the continent, and protecting it has become a leadership priority.

"As threats become more sophisticated and co-ordinated, our response has to be just as co-ordinated. That is why we launched the Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence, bringing the public and private sectors together to share intelligence, knowledge and best practices. Building that resilience together is how Africa continues to grow with confidence.”

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Mastercard Cyber Insights recorded 69,236 observed cyber events targeting African organisations in 2025, equivalent to roughly one event every eight minutes. Between 2016 and 2025, cyberattacks across the continent increased by more than 421%, compared with 307% globally, the whitepaper finds.

The whitepaper shows how cyber resilience priorities vary across Africa's diverse digital ecosystem. Nigeria, home to one of Africa's largest fintech ecosystems, accounted for a significant share of observed cyberattacks in Africa this year. South Africa’s concentrated financial sector was the target of 12.6% of the continent’s observed attacks.

Morocco, a growing regional technology hub linking North Africa to Europe, has built one of the continent’s more institutionalised cyber governance structures. In Kenya, the report highlights the importance of strengthening resilience around the systems that support financial inclusion and digital growth.

Protecting the data that powers growth

Three sectors - technology, public sector and financial services - together account for 44% of observed activity, the whitepaper finds, reflecting the high-value data and services these sectors hold as engines of Africa’s digital growth. Personal information, financial information and customer-facing services together made up 27% of targeted assets, a reminder that resilience is ultimately about protecting the people and businesses relying on these services every day.

Talent is the opportunity

The whitepaper points to talent as the clearest opportunity for investment. Africa has roughly 200, 000 cybersecurity roles waiting to be filled, a shortage equal to 23% of its current cybersecurity workforce. The Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence supports this by bringing security leaders and teams together to share knowledge and best practices, and by helping organisations build readiness through scenario-based exercises.

Resilience is a shared responsibility

Collective action is already delivering results. Between June and August 2025, Interpol’s Operation Serengeti 2.0 led to 1,209 arrests across 18 African countries and the recovery of $97.4m.

Mastercard approaches resilience through collaboration, working alongside governments, financial institutions and businesses of all sizes. The Center of Excellence brings together the public and private sectors to share threat intelligence, monitor risk and strengthen collective defense across the continent, providing a platform for the kind of co-ordinated response needed as Africa’s digital economy grows.

The full whitepaper, Africa’s Digital Defense Race, is among the centre’s first offerings.