MOROCCO · SECURITY
Key Facts
- —The country Morocco is a North African kingdom and the only African country with a free-trade agreement with the United States.
- —What happened On Monday 12 October, Morocco’s cyber agency opened a national cybersecurity week in Rabat, the capital, running until Wednesday 14 October.
- —Who runs it The General Directorate for Information Systems Security (DGSSI), part of the National Defence Administration, organises the event under royal instructions.
- —The warning Minister Abdeltif Loudyi said cyberattacks are now a reality for every country and that artificial intelligence accelerates their impact.
- —The drill An exercise with the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations’ digital agency, is planned with representatives of about 30 countries.
- —Why it matters Morocco plans new qualification regimes, tighter audit follow-up and closer oversight of vital infrastructure, rules relevant to US cloud and security vendors there.
Morocco opened a three-day national cybersecurity week in Rabat on Monday 12 October, warning that artificial intelligence is accelerating the impact of cyberattacks. The kingdom, Washington’s only free-trade partner in Africa, is using the event to court African governments and foreign technology firms.
The cybersecurity week, branded Morocco CyberSecurity Week, is run by the General Directorate for Information Systems Security, known by its French initials DGSSI. The agency sits inside the National Defence Administration, a defence body attached to the head of government, and is led by a brigadier general.
What Opened in Rabat on Monday
Abdeltif Loudyi, the minister delegate who runs the National Defence Administration, opened the week before African ministers and other foreign guests. He said cyberattacks are no longer a hypothetical risk but a reality every country faces, developed nations included.
Loudyi listed four short-term priorities, according to the administration’s statement carried by MAP, Morocco’s state news agency. They are training talent, backing Moroccan cybersecurity companies, protecting vital infrastructure and meeting the challenges of artificial intelligence.
The theme of the cybersecurity week is cybersecurity in the service of digital transformation and development, with sessions until Wednesday 14 October. Round tables cover vital infrastructure, cybercrime, cloud security and artificial intelligence, the Moroccan news site Hespress reported in French.
What the Cyber Agency Chief Promised
Brigadier General Abdellah Boutrig, director general of the DGSSI, said cybersecurity is an essential part of digital sovereignty, not a secondary function. He said the agency will update its laws and rules to match new threats and new technologies.
Boutrig said a new follow-up system for audits will make sure their recommendations are actually carried out. He added that the agency is stepping up its work on vital infrastructure and is considering opening up to small and medium-sized firms.
He also set a new goal of putting artificial intelligence to work protecting Moroccan cyberspace through home-grown tools. New qualification regimes and stronger threat monitoring are planned as well, he said, without giving a timetable.
Why Morocco Courts Africa and the World
Boutrig, who is also vice-president of the African Network of Cybersecurity Authorities, said no country can secure its cyberspace alone. Morocco hosts the network’s regional incident-response centre, ANCA-CERT, which he said is still being made fully operational.
He pointed out that Morocco sits in Tier 1, the top group, of the 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index of the International Telecommunication Union. The union is the United Nations agency for digital technology, based in Geneva.
A cybersecurity week exercise with the union is planned with representatives of about 30 countries, and a United Nations disarmament institute will lead a workshop. A full day is set aside for Africa, including a cyber diplomacy session for African embassies with the pan-African alliance Smart Africa.
What It Means for US Readers
Morocco is the only African country with a free-trade agreement with the United States, in force since 1 January 2006. Tighter audits and new qualification rules matter for any US cloud, software or security company selling to Moroccan ministries, banks or utilities.
A cloud panel on Monday included the head of cybersecurity at Huawei Morocco, the local arm of the Chinese telecom equipment maker. Huawei has been on the US Commerce Department’s Entity List, which restricts American technology sales to it, since May 2019.
For US companies, Morocco’s national cyber agency sits inside the defence administration and is led by a brigadier general. The cybersecurity week also offers foreign vendors an exhibition space to present their products and look for local partners.
Why Officials Call Cyber Defence a Shared Duty
Loudyi said cybersecurity is no longer a luxury but sits at the centre of how institutions are governed and stay in business. He reviewed work the DGSSI has launched in recent years, including security operations centres across institutions, more audits and training for security officers.
“Building a safe digital space is a shared responsibility that requires continuous effort,” Loudyi said, in remarks reported in French by Hespress. He called cybersecurity the essential pillar of “the trust we are building together.”
What Is Not Known
Officials gave no timetable for the updated cyber rules, the new qualification regimes or any opening of DGSSI services to small and medium-sized firms. They also did not name the roughly 30 countries taking part in the exercise with the International Telecommunication Union.
The official statement does not say whether US agencies or US companies are joining the drill or the exhibition. It is also unclear when the ANCA-CERT centre hosted in Morocco will be fully operational.
More: Morocco news in English, every day from The Rio Times.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Morocco CyberSecurity Week?
It is a national cybersecurity week held in Rabat from Monday 12 to Wednesday 14 October 2026. Morocco’s cyber agency, the DGSSI, organises round tables, workshops, an exhibition and an international exercise.
Who is in charge of cybersecurity in Morocco?
The General Directorate for Information Systems Security, or DGSSI, leads the work and is headed by Brigadier General Abdellah Boutrig. It belongs to the National Defence Administration, run by minister delegate Abdeltif Loudyi.
Why does the cybersecurity week matter to US companies?
Morocco is the only African country with a US free-trade agreement, in force since 2006. The DGSSI plans tighter audit follow-up, new qualification regimes and closer oversight of vital infrastructure, which can affect foreign vendors serving public bodies.
How does Morocco rank on cybersecurity?
According to DGSSI chief Abdellah Boutrig, Morocco is in Tier 1, the top group, of the International Telecommunication Union’s 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index. Morocco also hosts ANCA-CERT, an African centre for coordinating responses to cyber incidents.
What role does artificial intelligence play?
Officials said artificial intelligence speeds up the impact of cyberattacks and changes the nature of threats. The DGSSI wants to develop Moroccan tools that use artificial intelligence to defend national networks.
Sources: MAP (Maghreb Arabe Presse), opening of Morocco CyberSecurity Week, 12 October 2026; MAP, DGSSI director general Abdellah Boutrig, 12 October 2026; MAP, cloud migration panel, 12 October 2026; Hespress (French), Loudyi speech, 12 October 2026; International Telecommunication Union, Global Cybersecurity Index 2024, 2024; Office of the US Trade Representative, Morocco Free Trade Agreement, accessed 12 October 2026; US Department of Commerce, Huawei added to the Entity List, 15 May 2019.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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