UN Survey Places Kenyan Internet Users at Highest Risk of Cyber Attacks

In the most recent global survey by the United Nations (UN), Kenyans have been found to be the most carefree internet users in the world.

The new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) shows that only four out of ten Kenyans are concerned about the security of personal data online.

This places them at risk of being the easiest targets of cybercriminals as they rank lowest compared to the rest of the world’s internet users.

The UNCTAD Digital Economy report says that even as cybersecurity concerns are on the rise across the world, some internet users still give out their personal data online in exchange for services.

“While there appears to be increasing concerns about data privacy and online security around the world, there is somewhat a ‘data privacy paradox’, as users continue to give away personal data and thus their privacy in exchange for different services. The lowest level of concern was noted in Kenya at 44 per cent,” read the report.

UNCTAD survey found that social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter were the second biggest platforms where users are targeted by cybercriminals, as the services are not paid for, so the users’ privacy is part of the economy.

As at now Kenya still does not have data protection laws in place, a fact that makes its citizens suspicious of the government’s programs of data collection such as Huduma Number and the recently concluded national census.

The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) in their July 2019 report said that between January and March, Kenyan firms had been hit by 11.2 million cyber threats.

As a result, CA cyber intelligence issued 14,078 cyber threat advisories to the affected organizations, increasing the alerts from the initial 12,138.

Cyber attacks in Kenya have cost the country 21.2 billion shillings in 2017 and 29.5 billion shillings in 2018, as was established by a tech consultancy firm in May.

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