Morocco ranked seventh among African countries and 48th globally in the World Cybercrime Index (WCI), scoring 0.45 out of 100, according to a study by a team of researchers from Oxford University and the University of New South Wales Canberra published in the journal “PLOS ONE.”
The WCI is a global metric of cybercrime that measures technical products/services, attacks and extortion, data/identity theft, cashing out and money laundering, and gauges the impact, professionalism, and technical skills of cyber criminals in various locales.
The study’s findings are expected to contribute insights to an understanding of this threat and to aid law enforcement and policymakers in combatting cybercrime. The findings will also help to determine where the cybercrimes are located around the world and the extent of their impact.
Out of 245 individuals invited to participate in the survey, 147 agreed and received links to participate. Out of these 147, a total of 92 people completed the survey, rendering an overall response rate of 37.5%.
The survey collected information on the participants’ primary nationalities and their current countries of residence.
Results showed that Russia (58.39 points), Ukraine (36.44), and China (27.86) are the world’s top three cybercrime hotspots, followed by the United States with 25.01 points and Nigeria with 21.28 points.
Out of countries in Africa, Ghana ranked 13th globally and second in the African continent with a score of 3.58 points, followed by South Africa at 14th place. Cameroon and Gambia secured the fourth and fifth positions on the continent with scores of 0.70 and 0.62 points respectively, while Sierra Leone ranked sixth in Africa and 45th globally, just ahead of Morocco.
In the Middle East region, Iran topped the list of countries at 11th position globally with a score of 4.78 points, followed by Israel at 16th place globally. The United Arab Emirates took the 24th spot globally with a score of 1.55 points.