Kenya has witnessed a substantial increase in cyberattacks, with an alarming total of 860 million incidents reported over the past year, according to the country’s communications regulator.

Concerns have arisen regarding the growing frequency, sophistication, and magnitude of these cyber threats, particularly targeting Kenya’s critical information infrastructure.

To provide context, Kenya faced only 7.7 million cyberattacks in 2017, illustrating a significant surge over the past four years.

One notable incident in July was attributed to the pro-Russian hacking group Anonymous Sudan, resulting in a high-profile cyberattack.

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This attack disrupted access to over 5,000 online government services in Kenya, affecting vital functions such as visa, passport, and driver’s license applications and renewals.

It hampered online train booking systems and mobile money transactions.

The Communications Authority of Kenya reported that a substantial 79% of these cyberattacks involved criminals infiltrating the computer systems of various organizations.

Approximately 14% of incidents utilized malicious software, 6.5% overwhelmed servers with traffic to overload their infrastructure, and the remainder targeted web applications.