Africa’s digital economy is growing at remarkable speed, opening new opportunities for people, businesses and governments across the continent. Building strong cyber resilience will be key to sustaining that momentum, according to the new Mastercard-commissioned whitepaper, Africa’s Digital Defense Race.

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The whitepaper highlights that between 2016 and 2025, mobile money users grew 5.9 times, digital banking users 4.7 times and the e-commerce market 5.3 times. The findings come as Africa’s digital payments economy is on track to reach USD 1.5 trillion by 2030.

However, cyber threat activity grew at a similar pace over the same period, highlighting both the growing risk facing Africa’s digital economy and the opportunity to strengthen the governance, skills, infrastructure and collaboration needed to secure its continued growth.

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 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.”

Mastercard Cyber Insights recorded 69,236 observed cyber events targeting African organizations 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.

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