An illustrative image generated by Ai.
The centre is part of a Mastercard-led pan-African initiative, across multiple years and will be rolled out in phases in 2026, starting with South Africa and Nigeria.
The initiative will bring together organizations from across the cybersecurity ecosystem to support the strengthening of cyber resilience and preparedness and enable more secure digital growth across Africa.
It’s worth noting that Africa’s digital economy is projected to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030, making the need for secure and trusted systems more urgent and critical to inclusion and growth, according to the statement.
The centre aims to improve Africa's digital transformation and support collaboration and information sharing between governments, financial institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the continent, enabling them to anticipate, withstand and recover from advanced cyber threats, utilizing Mastercard’s expertise and network.
This will improve preparedness for anticipate threats earlier and build resilience and “can strengthen collective defense and secure a more confident and inclusive digital economy,” according to Mastercard CEO Michael Miebach.
Cybersecurity attacks have been evolving in scale and escalating sharply across Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa during the past year, becoming a priority as they directly affect business continuity and financial stability in a digital economy.
Meanwhile, cybercrime across Africa is rising sharply and causing economic losses each year, with only around 35 percent of incidents officially reported due to cyber maturity gaps, limited detection capabilities, and reputational concerns, which creates an innacurate view of the threat and weakens response efforts across the region.
According to Mastercard, South Africa is the continent’s most targeted market, accounting for around 29 percent of ransomware attacks and 40 percent of phishing incidents in Africa, while Nigeria ranks among the most affected markets for ransomware and dark-web threat activity.
With digital adoption accelerating across Africa, cybersecurity has become necessary to “drive economic resilience and growth across the continent,” Miebach said.
This has pushed countries such as Egypt to expedite their digital transformation and increase demand for internationally recognized cybersecurity standards across critical digital infrastructure, as it becomes a tech hub in the region.
Egypt has also been rising as a cybersecurity hub in the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered cybersecurity area, with cyberattacks increasing by 53 percent in 2025 due to the misuse of AI tools.
The country’s cybersecurity industry in 2024 was valued at EGP 15 billion (over $295 million), as Egypt’s digital infrastructure develops and digital transformation booms and major telecommunications network companies, such as Vodafone Egypt, are gaining certification for cybersecurity operations as AI and data have become central to the economy.
Furthermore, Mastercard’s centre will operate as a hub delivered through connected digital platforms, giving organizations visibility into emerging threats through a first‑year ecosystem cyber risk analysis covering up to 50 organisations, and access to an Africa‑focused threat intelligence feed developed by Recorded Future, a Mastercard company.
The centre operates with three pillars in mind, such as providing organizations with Africa-focused threat intelligence and insight, as well as cybersecurity intelligence assessments across Africa and a shared view of risks.
The second pillar covers collaboration between chief information security officers, senior business leaders and security teams to support response capabilities and advance cybersecurity practices across industries.
Additionally, the final pillar works to ready organizations to anticipate emerging threats through ongoing risk monitoring, resilience assessments, and scenario-based exercises designed to strengthen response and recovery capabilities.
Since 2018, Mastercard has invested over $12.6 billion in cybersecurity innovation and has supported the launch of over 20 cybersecurity-focused startups, as part of its broader strategy to build trust in the digital economy and become a technology and cyber intelligence partner.
The initiative is part of previous commitments made in discussions between Nigerian Government in Abuja, and the South African Government during last year’s G20 meetings in Johannesburg, to strengthen cybersecurity efforts in Africa.
Short link: