Mastercard Reports 421% Surge in African Cyberattacks
Mastercard launched a Cybersecurity Center of Excellence after reporting a 421% increase in cyberattacks across Africa between 2016 and 2025.
A whitepaper released by Mastercard on October 12, 2026, titled "Africa’s Digital Defense Race," reports that cyberattacks across Africa increased by 421% between 2016 and 2025. This growth significantly outpaces the global increase of 307% during the same period. In 2025, the company recorded 69,236 cyber events, averaging one every eight minutes. The technology, government, and financial services sectors were the primary targets, accounting for 44% of all activity.
Regional analysis identifies Nigeria's fintech ecosystem and South Africa's financial sector as major targets, with the latter absorbing 12.6% of observed attacks. While Morocco has developed a more institutionalized governance structure, other regions like Ghana face a "governance execution gap" in digital healthcare, where low staff awareness increases vulnerability despite the existence of the Cybersecurity Act of 2020.
To address these threats and a shortage of approximately 200,000 cybersecurity professionals, Mastercard launched the Africa Cybersecurity Center of Excellence to facilitate public-private intelligence sharing. The report also notes successful enforcement efforts, such as Interpol’s Operation Serengeti 2.0, which resulted in 1,209 arrests and the recovery of $97.4 million across 18 countries in mid-2025.
