Mastercard Targets African Cybersecurity Resilience
The company launched a new center of excellence to help secure Africa's rapidly expanding digital economy.
Updated on Oct. 20, 2026 in Cybersecurity
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Mastercard released a new whitepaper highlighting a surge in digital activity and cyberattacks across Africa. It also established the Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence to bolster regional defenses.
Why it matters
Africa's digital economy is expanding quickly, but the region faces a shortage of 200,000 cybersecurity professionals. Building resilience is essential to support the projected growth of the continent's digital payments sector.
In 2025, 44 percent of cyber activity targeted the technology, public sector, and financial services industries. Approximately 27 percent of these attacks focused on sensitive personal, financial, and customer-facing data.
The players
Mastercard
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry that provides financial transaction processing services.
Interpol
Interpol is an international police organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and crime control.
The details
The newly opened Africa Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence provides organizations with scenario-based exercises and facilitates intelligence sharing between the public and private sectors. These initiatives follow Interpol's Operation Serengeti 2.0, which resulted in 1,209 arrests and the recovery of USD 97.4 million across 18 countries.
Timeline
Digital user growth and attack increases occurred from 2016 to 2025.
Interpol conducted Operation Serengeti 2.0 between June and August 2025.
Mastercard recorded 69,236 cyber events during 2025.
The Africa digital payments economy is projected to reach USD 1.5 trillion by 2030.
The Tech Race
This development reflects the critical need for robust security infrastructure as African nations shift away from traditional cash economies to digital platforms. Mastercard is positioning its new center to secure this market against a backdrop of increasing regional cyber threats.
Users of mobile money and digital banking platforms in Africa can expect increased security measures as organizations adopt new best practices. These initiatives aim to protect sensitive personal and financial information from the rising tide of automated cyber threats.
The takeaway
The rapid digitization of African financial services has created significant economic momentum that must be guarded against sophisticated cyber actors. Organizations and individuals should prioritize cybersecurity training to bridge the existing regional skills gap and secure digital assets.
Further reading
Learn more about the latest developments in Cybersecurity to understand the global efforts to mitigate digital risks.
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