The Communications Authority of Kenya reported that the country lost $83 million to cybercrime in 2023 in latest cyber security report.
The National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team detected 1.1 billion cyber threat events in the Authority’s latest report.
What does it mean?
• Kenya becomes the second highest among African countries in cyber attack losses, behind Nigeria’s $1.8 billion. Other countries include Uganda at $67 million, Botswana at $39 million, and Lesotho at $2.3 million.
• The number of cyber threat events detected ( 1.1 billion) represents a 16.50% rise from the 971,440,345 threat events detected in the previous period (January to March).
Also read: Most Targeted Sectors by Cybercriminals — Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2024
David Mugonyi, the Authority’s Director General:
“Cybercriminals have continued to utilise identity theft and phishing to trick victims into disclosing sensitive information, which can result in grave financial losses. Cyberbullying and cyber harassment are some of the activities that comprise online abuse, amongst other malicious activities,”
He pointed to the increasing use of insecure IoT devices, poor system configurations, outdated software, and new technologies like AI as the main reasons for the problem.
Businesses and agencies in Kenya hit by cyberattacks spent an average of $4.35 million to restore their services.
Also read: Data Breaches in Ghana & Africa (Q1 of 2024)
What’s the way forward?
To address increasing cyber threats, the government plans to consolidate all cyber control units from various ministries and agencies into a single national organization. This initiative will require amendments to the National ICT Policy and updates to the National Cybersecurity Strategy to effectively tackle evolving digital security challenges.