In a digital age plagued by data breaches, cyber warfare, and security hacks, it is more important than ever to have the knowledge to protect your information and bank accounts. This past July 2019, the Spanish news outlet El Commercio reported that the Spanish Police arrested 24 cyber criminals embezzling over $1 million USD per year. An additional 23 Moroccan nationals from the same illegal collective were taken to court in Morocco. Since the summer announcement, authorities have put attention on investigating the kingdom’s IT security. Recently, Pascal Naudin, the director of Kaspersky Security Network North Africa, an anti-virus company based in Casablanca, stated Morocco ranks 34th in countries affected by web browsing hacks. Naudin reported that between April to June 2019, more than 5.06 million cyber security issues were detected in Morocco. The countries with the highest web-based threats were Algeria (44.1%) Nepal (43%), and Albania (40.1%).
Even though the situation is a concern and private citizens have been affected, “the majority of threats can be addressed through simple reflexes and good actions,” said Naudin. Beyond adding an antivirus solution to protect against infections, a firewall or strong anti-rootkit features are important to install on devices.