Africa’s Digital Growth Brings Cybersecurity Risks

Africa’s rapid digital expansion is being accompanied by a sharp increase in cyber threats, putting pressure on governments and businesses to strengthen cybersecurity skills, infrastructure and cooperation, according to a new whitepaper commissioned by Mastercard.

The report, Africa’s Digital Defense Race, found that cyberattacks against African organisations increased by more than 421% between 2016 and 2025, compared with a 307% increase globally. The rise has occurred alongside rapid growth in digital services across the continent. Between 2016 and 2025, mobile money users increased 5.9 times, digital banking users grew 4.7 times and the e-commerce market expanded 5.3 times.

Mastercard Cyber Insights recorded 69,236 observed cyber events targeting African organisations in 2025, equivalent to approximately one event every eight minutes. The report argues that the growth of Africa’s digital economy is increasing the amount of valuable data and services that need protection, while exposing gaps in cybersecurity capacity across the continent.

“ 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 coordinated, our response has to be just as coordinated. 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.”

The cybersecurity risks vary between African markets, reflecting differences in their digital economies and infrastructure. Nigeria, which has a large fintech ecosystem, accounted for a significant share of observed cyberattacks in 2025. South Africa’s financial sector accounted for 12.6% of the continent’s observed attacks. The report also highlights Morocco’s more established cyber governance structures and points to the need for Kenya to strengthen resilience around systems supporting financial inclusion and digital services.

Technology, the public sector and financial services accounted for 44% of observed cyber activity covered in the report. These sectors hold large volumes of data and provide services that are increasingly central to economic activity. Personal information, financial information and customer-facing services accounted for 27% of the targeted assets identified by the report, highlighting the potential impact of attacks on both organisations and their customers.

Cybersecurity skills are another area of concern. The report estimates that Africa has about 200,000 unfilled cybersecurity positions, representing a shortage equivalent to 23% of the continent’s existing cybersecurity workforce. The skills gap comes as organisations face increasingly complex threats and need security professionals capable of identifying, responding to and recovering from cyber incidents.

The report also points to international and regional cooperation as an important part of the response. Between June and August 2025, Interpol’s Operation Serengeti 2.0 resulted in 1,209 arrests across 18 African countries and the recovery of $97.4 million.

The findings suggest that cybersecurity will need to develop alongside Africa’s digital economy rather than remain a separate consideration. As more financial transactions, government services, business operations and personal interactions move online, the ability to protect the infrastructure and data supporting them becomes increasingly important to sustaining digital growth. Mastercard said its Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence is intended to support collaboration between public and private-sector organisations through threat intelligence sharing, risk monitoring and scenario-based exercises.

For African organisations, the challenge is increasingly about building resilience into digital systems as they scale, while developing the skills and cooperation needed to respond to threats that are becoming more frequent and coordinated.