Cyber Threat is Real in Kenya as Number of Internet Users Surge
The number of Internet users in Kenya has grown to 31.9 million from 29.6 million in the previous quarter according to the quarterly sector statistics report by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
In the report, the portion of the Kenyan population accessing Internet services reached 74.2 per 100 inhabitants up from 69.0 per 100 inhabitants recorded in the previous quarter.
This is positive news for the country on the back of being ranked number one in inclusive financial services by the Brookings Institution’s 2016 Financial and Digital Inclusion Project with an overall score of 84 percent.
Indeed, the global phenomenon of people’s mobility is with us, thanks to advances in technology. The ‘global village’ prophecy has become a reality – international schooling, business or trade development, immigration with related problems like those of refugees r displaced persons. and the trend is that people from foreign and alien cultures are being brought closer together at an even more accelerated rate.
For instance, in Kenya, Mr Stephen Mwaura, Central bank of Kenya (CBK Assistant Director National Payments System reported that the amount transacted through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) far outstrips about Sh15 billion that is transacted daily on the M-Pesa platform.
Further, Kenya’s e-commerce market is on steady as mobile internet performance continues to improve, as more people embrace digital transactions.
The Kenyan government is committed to investing more resources for the ICT sector to thrive improve service delivery but also cut transaction costs and safeguard Government revenue.
However, Dr. Bitange Ndemo in an op-end 2015, said, “There is an emerging hidden data economy, a market place for stolen digital information. Data is what drives the digital economy.”
“There is reason for Kenya to be worried about the emerging security threats and urgently address capacity, regulatory and advisory gaps. The number of electronic transactions increase by the day as banks expand their customer base, government through Huduma Centres is vast moving online, e-commerce is on the rise and every supermarket is gathering customer data under the guise of customer loyalty programmes.
We have effectively established the motivation for cyber criminals to target Kenya. Even more complex is the emerging trend by some software companies that are paying hackers to steal data from users and demanding ransom for the stolen data,” he adds.
The cyber threat is real.
Kenyan firms lost close to 15 billion shillings through cybercrime in 2015 with the public sector being the most affected and according to the 2015 Cyber Security Report.
The report stated that the amount lost had tripled since 2014 raising questions about the security of Kenya and its readiness to fight the menace of cybercrime.
Cybercrime poses a real and persistent threat to business, government and financial institutions.
The Kenyan Section of International Commission of Jurists ( ICJ Kenya) notes that besides the internet and mobile technologies are today creating new ways to connect, share resources and experience and build communities, technology can also be used in ways that are harmful. Technology assisted violence against women is a distinct form of violence against women, whereby technology forms the mode or medium through which the violence is committed. Developments in technology have created virtual and digital spaces for interaction that never existed and were never contemplated before.
ICJ Kenya says in Kenya, there are increasing reports of incidences of hate or offensive speech, cyber stalking, sexual harassment, hacking, impersonation, extortion, defamation, fake employment opportunities, surveillance and unauthorised use of personal information including images and videos. In Kenya, most of these have targeted prominent personalities who form easy targets for criminals, given their profile and gender.
In 2014, the Government of Kenya came up with a