Kenya records 106,000 cyber security attacks in three months
Kenyan cyberspace has been rendered relatively unsafe for users following multiple attempted attacks targeted at government websites, academic sites, mobile phone apps, and financial services.
A cyber security report indicated that there has been a 36 percent increase in detected threats on web apps, totalling at least 106,603 incidents between July and September compared to the previous quarter, The Nation reports.
“During the three months between July to September 2023, the National KE-CIRT/CC detected 106,603 web application attack attempts targeting critical infrastructure service providers. This represented a 35.95 percent increase from the last period April to June 2023,” part of the report is quoted.
The report further indicates that the purpose of such cyber-attacks is to “withhold sensitive information and services such as authentication data, financial data, and public services as was the case with the DDoS attack on the eCitizen platform.”
“The attack objectives were to make services unavailable, manipulate databases, and release sensitive data for purposes of damaging organisations’ reputation. While the web application attacks were relatively minimal as compared to other attack vectors, their impact was very significant as was the case with the eCitizen DDoS attack, which led to the unavailability of online public services,” the report stated.
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The report further noted increased cyberattacks on digital finance services, leading to the defrauding of customers. Thus, mobile application attacks recorded 27,147 threats signifying a soar of 53.7 percent.
The cybersecurity report was prepared by the Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (KE-CIRT/CC)KE-CIRT/CC.
