“As cyber threats become more sophisticated and digital sovereignty emerges as a strategic issue for Africa, PwC has chosen Casablanca to establish its first Digital Resilience Center in the MENA region. A strong signal on Morocco’s positioning as a regional hub for cybersecurity. Interview with Reda Loumany, Senior Regional Partner at PwC.
Why Casablanca? What motivated the choice of Morocco, and particularly Casablanca, to establish this cyber watch center, the first of its kind in the MENA region?
The choice of Casablanca for the establishment of the Digital Resilience Center is explained by several strategic and structural factors. Firstly, Morocco has a particularly rich and dynamic pool of talent in the digital sector. For example, more than 15,000 engineers graduate each year in the country, with an increasing number specializing in information technology and cybersecurity. The country has more than 200 higher education institutions offering digital-related training, and Casablanca alone hosts nearly 40% of Moroccan technological startups.
This human capital is a major asset for attracting investments, developing innovative solutions, and addressing cybersecurity challenges on a continental scale. Thanks to this rise in skills and its strategic positioning, Morocco is now establishing itself as a key player in the African digital ecosystem. It plays a catalytic role in digital transformation, facilitating knowledge transfer and creating synergies between different countries in the region.
Morocco, with its political stability, openness to international investments, and strong ambition to become a regional leader in digital technology, offers an environment conducive to the development of advanced cybersecurity solutions. Casablanca stands out as the economic capital of Morocco and a major financial hub in Africa, making it a natural convergence point for innovative companies and initiatives with strong regional impact.
Furthermore, the city benefits from a dynamic ecosystem of startups, universities, and public institutions committed to digital transformation, fostering collaboration, research, and skills transfer. Casablanca also offers remarkable connectivity with the rest of the African continent and international markets, positioning the center ideally to have an impact across the entire MENA region and beyond.
What are the main objectives of this center in the short and medium term – strengthening local capacities, supporting African companies, or developing regional expertise in cybersecurity?
The Casablanca Digital Resilience Center is based on an ambitious vision, structured around several strategic objectives in the short and medium term. Firstly, it aims to significantly strengthen local cybersecurity capacities by developing a pool of qualified talents and supporting the continuous training of professionals in the sector.
Under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty, Morocco’s 2030 national cybersecurity strategy places human capital at the heart of its priorities. The goal is to train over 100,000 professionals specialized in digital technology and cybersecurity by 2030 to leverage the country’s talent pool and support its digital transformation. We will contribute to this goal with a strike force of 100 dedicated consultants by 2030.
The strategy aims to strengthen the resilience of the Moroccan cyberspace and significantly reduce cyber risks for businesses and citizens. The 2030 NCS includes the implementation of 26 initiatives and 60 concrete actions to improve governance, security, and resilience of the national cyberspace, with a particular focus on protecting sensitive information systems and responding to emerging threats. PwC fully aligns with this objective by bringing its global capacity and experience to clients implementing best practices in financial services, sensitive industries, or the public sector. The DRC fully aligns with the national cybersecurity strategy and the ambitions of Morocco 2030: strengthening technological and human capacities, supporting operational sovereignty, and helping companies in their digital transformation.
Another key objective is the development of cutting-edge regional expertise in cybersecurity to position Casablanca as a reference hub for the MENA region, Africa, and internationally. This center, interconnected with 11 other similar centers, is already supporting our clients in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
How does this center plan to contribute to digital sovereignty and the development of African talent in the field of cybersecurity?
The Casablanca Digital Resilience Center aims to play a leading role in consolidating African digital sovereignty and developing cybersecurity skills across the continent. To achieve this, the center is already implementing advanced training and certification programs for local talents to meet the growing demand for qualified experts in this strategic field. By supporting African companies in their secure digital transformation, the center will directly contribute to strengthening their technological autonomy and their ability to face cyber threats. It will also encourage the sharing of best practices and regional collaboration, contributing to local reflections and creating a dynamic and resilient ecosystem. In doing so, the Digital Resilience Center aims not only to train a new generation of cybersecurity experts but also to promote a culture of inclusive and sustainable digital security for the benefit of the entire African continent.
Do you plan to partner with Moroccan universities, startups, or public institutions to promote research and training in cybersecurity?
Absolutely, the Casablanca Digital Resilience Center places particular emphasis on partnerships with the local ecosystem to promote skills transfer and information sharing in cybersecurity. It aims to contribute to the programs developed by Moroccan engineering schools, develop new digital practices, especially in the context of Artificial Intelligence adoption, offer internships to students and train them in best practices, thus contributing to the emergence of new talents. Furthermore, alliances with innovative startups will accelerate the adoption of technological solutions tailored to regional challenges and stimulate innovation in the sector.
Finally, cooperation with Moroccan public institutions will facilitate information sharing (benchmarks, threat monitoring, etc.). This collaborative approach aims to create a true center of excellence capable of supporting the rise of local talents and positioning Casablanca as a regional leader in cybersecurity.
With the rise of artificial intelligence, what new risks or opportunities does this center identify for African companies?
With the rise of artificial intelligence, the Casablanca Digital Resilience Center identifies both new risks and major opportunities for African companies.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the cyber landscape by creating a dual dynamic:
Amplification of threats through an increase in the velocity and sophistication of cyber attacks:
Hyper-personalized phishing: credible, multilingual, mass-generated fraudulent emails.
Deepfakes and identity theft: synthetic voices and faces to deceive systems and individuals.
Prompt injection and backdoors: manipulation of LLM models to bypass filters and introduce vulnerabilities.
Industrialization of attacks: automation of cyber attack steps making attacks faster and more sophisticated.
Increase in attack surface by creating new systems that will themselves be exposed to cyber attacks:
AI systems themselves become targets (model theft, training data contamination).
Risks related to algorithmic biases and model hallucinations.
AI can thus be exploited by malicious actors to automate, sophisticate, and intensify cyber attacks, making traditional defense systems less effective against evolving and hard-to-detect threats. Risks include data manipulation, digital identity theft, or the use of AI to bypass existing security measures.
On the other hand, integrating artificial intelligence into cybersecurity strategies opens up new perspectives: the center encourages the use of AI for proactive intrusion detection, advanced behavioral analysis, and automated incident response. This allows African companies to strengthen their resilience, anticipate emerging threats, and optimize risk management. The Digital Resilience Center also supports the training of local talents in these technologies, to accompany the rise in skills and responsible adoption of AI in the cybersecurity sector. Thus, the center aims to make artificial intelligence a lever for innovation and protection for the African digital ecosystem.”
