Kenya's cyber threats among the highest - report

 

Kenya is the second most attacked country by cyber criminals in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa region (META), new industry insights show

This is despite recording an eight percent overall decline in cyber threats in 2023, according the latest analysis by cybersecurity solutions provider Kaspersky.

The META region comprises of Bahrain, Egypt, Kenya, Kuwait, Nigeria, Qatar, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, UAE, Oman and Pakistan.

The report shows that ransomware attacks increased by 68 percent; backdoors by 47 percent, exploits by 22 percent and phishing witnessed a 19 percent rise.

Experts disclosed that the greatest threat is from emerging technology trends such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) that are influencing the scale of modern threats.

Kaspersky’s Head of Research Centre for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa, Amin Hasbini said threats targeting industrial control systems within critical infrastructure, in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia have also gone up.

“As the cyber security landscape evolves, cyber threats continue to become diverse and sophisticated,” said Hasbini.

The firm said Kenya came in second after Turkey with 39.2 percent of users affected by online threats.

The threats are caused by vulnerabilities on web pages in emails or web services since Kenya has the highest Internet penetration in Africa.

“This trend is evident due to the emergence of advanced technologies like AI and the escalating geopolitical and economic turbulence within the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa (META) region," said Hasbini.

He said the factors collectively contribute to the surge in cybercrime and the heightened complexity of cyber-attacks.

Despite the annual decline in threats the Communications Authority of Kenya in its latest report points out that the number of cyber threats in the country increased in the three-month period to December 2023.

According to the regulator, Kenya experienced 860 million cyber attacks in the preceding Financial Year 2022–2023.

The country’s critical information infrastructure (CIIs) was the most targeted, witnessing an upsurge in cyber threats in terms of frequency, sophistication, and volume.

Hasbini advised victims to backup data, apply multi-layered security defences that scan suspicious email attachment and keep their software up-to-date to minimise entry points of ransomware.

Kaspersky's analysis further reveals that online threats stemming from vulnerabilities on web pages, emails, or web services have shown considerable fluctuations across the region.

Turkey experienced the highest proportion of users affected by such threats (41.8 percent), followed by Kenya (39.2percent), Qatar (38.8 percent), and South Africa (35 percent).

Oman at (23.4 percent) and Egypt (27.4percent) had the least affected users, with Saudi Arabia (29.9 percent) and Kuwait (30.8 percent) following suit.

 by JACKTONE LAWI