Mozambique is accelerating efforts to strengthen its national cybersecurity architecture through a new cooperation programme with the European Union, aimed at improving technical capacity, incident response readiness, and alignment with international digital security standards.
The initiative, implemented under the EU’s TAIEX instrument for technical assistance and knowledge exchange, brings together Mozambican cybersecurity technicians and European experts in a structured capacity-building programme designed to reinforce the country’s resilience against rising cyber threats linked to rapid digital transformation.
According to Mozambique’s National Institute of Information and Communication Technologies (INTIC), five specialists from its Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) are currently in Lisbon, where they are undertaking intensive training with Portugal’s national cybersecurity institutions. The programme is being conducted in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Centre of Portugal and its operational unit CERT.PT.
The training focuses on core incident response functions, including detection, analysis, containment, and recovery from cyberattacks, as well as the development of coordinated response protocols. Officials say the objective is to strengthen both technical expertise and institutional coordination, enabling Mozambique to respond more effectively to increasingly complex cyber incidents.
A second phase of the partnership will see European cybersecurity experts travel to Mozambique to continue on-site training and adapt European best practices to local operational realities. This phase is expected to focus on embedding new procedures within national systems and ensuring long-term knowledge transfer across institutions.
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INTIC said the programme also supports broader policy development efforts, particularly in areas such as digital fraud prevention, identity protection, and secure public digital infrastructure. Authorities view these areas as increasingly critical as Mozambique expands e-government services and digital financial systems.
The EU partnership builds on a wider pattern of international cooperation pursued by Maputo in recent years. In February, Mozambique strengthened cybersecurity ties with the United States, which the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) considers a global benchmark in cyber resilience. The country also signed a memorandum of understanding with Togo in November 2025 to enhance collaboration between their respective CSIRTs, including threat intelligence sharing and technical cooperation.
These initiatives are part of Mozambique’s broader strategy to integrate into global cybersecurity networks and improve its institutional readiness. The country participates in several international legal and policy frameworks, including the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, the African Union Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention), and the United Nations Convention against Cybercrime, which seeks to enhance global coordination in combating digital offences.
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Officials also hope that deeper cooperation with the EU will facilitate Mozambique’s eventual integration into the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), a global network of cybersecurity response teams that promotes coordination and information sharing among national and sectoral CERTs.
Despite these advances, Mozambique still faces structural challenges in its cybersecurity ecosystem. In the International Telecommunication Union’s 2024 Global Cybersecurity Index, the country is ranked in the third tier out of five, with a score of 66.05 out of 100.
The ITU notes that Mozambique performs relatively well in organizational and cooperative measures, reflecting its growing engagement in international partnerships and institutional coordination. However, significant gaps remain in legal frameworks, technical capacity, and human resource development.
Experts say these weaknesses are common among developing digital economies, where rapid expansion of digital services often outpaces the development of cybersecurity infrastructure and regulatory systems.
The EU-supported programme is therefore seen as a strategic step toward narrowing these gaps, strengthening national resilience, and positioning Mozambique to better safeguard its digital transformation agenda in an increasingly interconnected and threat-prone global cyberspace.
