Field study of cybercafe usage & security in Morocco

A significant number of Moroccans use cybercafés on a regular basis for work and leisure. Unfortunately, if these cybercafé machines are infected with malware, such malware can steal users’ passwords and other sensitive information. Assessing cybercafé security in Morocco can help assess the risk that users encounter when using cybercafés. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is no academic study of cybercafé security in Morocco. In this work, we study the security of 30 cybercafés in Rabat, Sale, Temara, and Casablanca. We interview managers and customers of these cybercafés and examine computers directly. We find that 50% of computers have a disabled basic security tools such as firewalls. We also find that 60% of computers are infected with malware that can steal users information. Finally, we find that such infection rate decreases with managers education level. In summary, our results indicate that cybercafé security level is very poor, but that level could be improved with awareness programs targeted towards cybercafé managers.