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Weekly highlights

Gitex Africa Morocco: 10 More Years in Marrakech!

T HE curtain has fallen on the a signed partnership agreement, this to position Morocco as a leader in New strategic collaborations were

3rd edition of Gitex Africa major event will take place in April
advanced manufacturing industries, also announced, including partnerships
according to Chakib Achour, Gitex’s between Royal Air Maroc (RAM) and
Morocco, which officially 2026 under the auspices of Morocco’s
ended April 16th. This latest Ministry of Health and Social Protec-
edition was marked by a wave of pro- tion. It will be co-organized Africa Director. Morocco is also emer- the Ministry of Digital Transition to
ging as a pioneer in digital drive innovation in the travel sector
mising developments. Chief among with the Mohammed health, steadily pro- and establish Morocco as a continen-
them was the strong commitment of VI Foundation gressing toward a tal TravelTech hub. Notably, several
public authorities to fast-track Moroc- for Science fully integrated banks have pledged support for startup
co’s digital transformation and esta- and Health national health development. CIH Bank, Crédit Agri-
blish the country as a regional tech hub (FM6SS) information cole du Maroc, and AMWILCOM
for Africa. Major announcements were and powered system. The have committed to financing innova-
made, memorandum of understanding by Koaun country is tive projects in Fintech and Agritech.
signed, and strategic partnerships for- Internatio- actively On the conference front, artificial
med. In just three editions, Gitex Africa nal. Addi- promoting intelligence took center stage. The
has significantly elevated Morocco’s tionally, the the adoption global AI market is expected to reach
international visibility. The highlight: manufactu- of cutting- $320 billion by 2030, with over 70%
the event will continue to be hosted in ring and logis- edge medical of large companies planning to inte-
Marrakech – at least until 2033. Final tics sectors will technologies grate intelligent agents within the next
dates are yet to be confirmed, as they benefit from a to enhance the two years. This momentum demands
depend on the global Gitex calendar dedicated innovation resilience of its urgent mobilization – particularly in
(Dubai, Europe, Asia, etc.). expo, “World Advanced healthcare infrastructure Africa, where AI research accounts for
Another key milestones, should be re- Manufacturing (WAM) Moroc- and services. On a continental only 0.5% of global output, according
membered, the launch of a specialized co,” scheduled for October 28–30, scale, the African healthcare market is to Amal Seghrouchni, Minister Dele-
Gitex event dedicated to healthtech 2025. This initiative, led by Gitex valued at $259 billion and is projected gate for Digital Transition and Admi-
– a game-changer for the healthcare in partnership with the Ministry of to become the world’s second-largest nistrative Reform.o
economy. Officially unveiled through Industry, AMDIE, and CGEM, aims – after the United States – by 2030. B.B.

Massive Private Data Breach

Audit Report by National Defense in the Pipeline

A massive leak of private data rway,” without confirming whether
has occurred at Morocco’s the breach was on the agenda. Ano-
National Social Security Fund ther DGSSI department did not res-
(CNSS) and the Ministry of pond to our request for information,
Economic Inclusion, Small Business nor did the telecom regulator (ANRT),
and Employment. which is a member of DGSSI’s stra-
The data was released on April 8, tegic cybersecurity committee, along
2025, via a Telegram channel. The cy- with the Ministers of Interior, Foreign
berattack appears to have been perpe- Affairs, and Industry. L’Économiste
trated by a group of Algerian hackers reached out- in vain- to the latter two
going by the name Jabaroot DZ. ministers.
On the government side, the mat- The central question remains: How
ter is being treated with seriousness, can such a large-scale leak of private
although one of its members stated data occur within public institutions?
anonymously it was not formally on Morocco has an official body tasked
the agenda of the April 10, 2025, cabi- with protecting its critical IT infras-
net meeting : “We discussed it briefly. tructure – namely, the DGSSI – which to protect the data (…) and ensure an can citizens’ data. To date, it appears
We must now wait for the audit report has even established a national cyber- adequate level of security given the that more than 28,000 people have
from the General Directorate for In- security strategy for 2030. risks involved.” downloaded the leaked files,” stated
formation Systems Security (DGS- Roughly two million Moroccans However, the damage has already Moroccan Hackers on their Facebook
SI). This matter must be approached are affected by this breach of personal been done. The leaked information page on April 10, 2025.
seriously and calmly. We need to take data. Both the Penal Code and Law has been “posted online for free” on This analysis emerges despite the
measures for the future and also sepa- No. 09-08 on the protection of indi- Telegram and a file-sharing platform. absence of any official technical in-
rate fact from fiction in the data being viduals with regard to personal data “Since the original distribution channel vestigation report made available to
circulated”. processing impose penalties for such is still unknown, the alleged Algerian the country’s 36 million citizens. The
The DGSSI reports to the National acts. The law also places “confidentia- hackers chose to announce the leak breach involves more than 53,000
Defense Administration. Contacted by lity and security obligations” on data on forums (popular within the hac- files in PDF format, with additional
our team, its cybersecurity monitoring controllers. In this case, the CNSS is king community) widely followed by data in spreadsheet formats such as
and response center (maCERT) confir- required “to implement appropriate hackers and global security agencies. CSV (similar to Excel files).o
med that “a meeting is currently unde- technical and organizational measures Jabaroot published 6.5 GB of Moroc- F.F. & A.O

Friday 18 April 2025