By Atlantic Reports

Mastercard has called for stronger cybersecurity governance, infrastructure and skills across Africa, warning that the continent’s expanding digital economy faces increasingly sophisticated threats.

In a statement released on Monday, the payments company outlined findings from its white paper, Africa’s Digital Defense Race, which examines digital growth, cyber risks and workforce shortages.

The report said mobile money user numbers grew 5.9-fold between 2016 and 2025, while digital banking users increased 4.7-fold and e-commerce expanded 5.3-fold.

It projected that Africa’s digital payments economy could reach $1.5 trillion by 2030. That figure is a forecast, rather than a value already achieved.

For households and businesses increasingly dependent on digital transactions, the challenge is protecting access to money, personal information and essential services as these systems grow.

Rising Threats and a Skills Shortage

According to the white paper, cyberattacks across Africa increased by more than 421 per cent between 2016 and 2025, compared with 307 per cent globally.

Mastercard said its Cyber Insights system recorded 69,236 cyber events targeting African organisations in 2025, approximately one every eight minutes.

These are events observed by the company’s monitoring system. The supplied statement did not explain its coverage, how events were classified or how many resulted in successful breaches or financial losses.

The report identified Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Kenya as facing different risks associated with their financial systems, digital economies and technology infrastructure.

It said South Africa’s concentrated financial sector accounted for 12.6 per cent of observed attacks across the continent. Technology, public services and financial services together accounted for 44 per cent of observed cyber activity.

Personal information, financial information and customer-facing services represented a combined 27 per cent of targeted assets, according to the report.

Mastercard also estimated that approximately 200,000 cybersecurity positions were unfilled across Africa at the end of 2025, equivalent to about 23 per cent of the existing cybersecurity workforce.

The statement did not provide country-level vacancy figures or explain the methodology behind that estimate.

Coordinated Protection

Mastercard’s Senior Vice-President and Customer Solutions Centre Lead for Africa, Shabir Ahmed, said security had become a leadership responsibility.

“Africa’s digital growth is creating real opportunity for people and businesses across the continent, and protecting it has become a leadership priority,” he said.

Ahmed called for coordinated responses involving governments, businesses and other stakeholders.

He said Mastercard’s Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence supported intelligence sharing, knowledge exchange and the adoption of security practices across public and private organisations.

According to the company, the centre also conducts scenario-based exercises to help security teams prepare for potential incidents.

The statement cited INTERPOL’s Operation Serengeti 2.0 as an example of cross-border cooperation, reporting 1,209 arrests across 18 African countries between June and August 2025 and the recovery of $97.4 million. Arrests do not establish guilt, and the account did not provide subsequent prosecution outcomes.

Mastercard said it would continue working with governments, financial institutions and businesses to improve threat intelligence and risk monitoring.

The report’s central argument is that digital expansion must be matched by investment in protection. Its impact will depend on whether institutions develop the personnel, systems and response capacity needed to keep services reliable and safeguard users.

Atlantic Reports: Voices. People. Facts.