Kenya Hit with Record-Breaking 860 Million Cyber Attacks This Year

Unprecedented Surge in Cyber Threats Targeting Kenya’s Critical Information Infrastructure

In a shocking revelation, the Communications Authority of Kenya has disclosed that the country has suffered an unprecedented surge in cyber attacks this year, with a staggering 860 million attempts recorded. The authority attributes the sharp increase to the “frequency, sophistication and scale” of cyber threats targeting the country’s critical information infrastructure.

Statistics Revealed

• A whopping 79% of these attacks were successful, due to hackers exploiting vulnerabilities in organizations’ internal controls, system procedures, and information systems.
• In comparison, six years ago, Kenya averaged just 7.7 million cyber attacks annually.

Types of Attacks

• Malicious software accounted for 14% of the attacks.
• Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks made up 6.5%.
• Web application attacks were also a significant concern, making up a substantial portion of the total attacks.

Most Targeted Sectors

Kenya is now among the top three most targeted countries in Africa, trailing only Nigeria and South Africa. The country’s financial services industry has been particularly hard hit, along with:

• Healthcare
• Education
• Energy
• Utilities
• Government agencies

High-Profile Cyber Attack on eCitizen Platform

In July, Kenya suffered a high-profile cyber attack on its eCitizen platform, which crippled access to over 5,000 government services. Although no data was lost during the attack, it highlighted the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to hacking attempts. The hack was attributed to Anonymous Sudan.

Authorities’ Warning

The Communications Authority has sounded an alarm, urging organizations to bolster their defenses against these increasingly sophisticated cyber threats.