Ghosts of Huduma Namba: NIIMS Viability Challenged In Court

An expert witness has filed a case in court challenging the government’s use of obsolete equipment to capture personal data during the Huduma Namba project.

The cybersecurity expert and computer fraud forensic analyst, Anand Venkatanatayanan, during court proceedings told the court that with the use of such bogus systems, Kenyans cannot be assured of the safety of their important personal details under National Integrated Identity System (NIIMS).

In his argument, Venkatanatayanan told justices Pauline Nyamweya, Weldon Korir and Mumbi Ngugi of the High Court that following the malfunctioning of the systems, there were several errors such as human changes and the system has two different results for the same person.

He argued that a similar project had equally failed in India and said that instead of benefiting from the whole project, expensive as it was, Kenyans would be prey to hackers.

“In computer security, nothing is truly secure and there are only costs and benefits of hoarding data. Centralized databases such as India’s Aadhaar and NIIMS, however, hoard so much data that the cost-benefit ratio tilts definitely in favor of attackers,” said Anand.

NIIMS, just like Aadhar, is used to centralize information rather than decentralizing information as a measure to secure it, and for that reason, it will be prone to leaks.

“NIIMS is archaic compared to the modern-day system architectures. While other countries strive to decentralize information, Kenya seems to be in a rush to do the opposite,” he said.

He added that both the Kenyan and Indian systems were offered by OT Morpho and that Aadhar data has leaked countless times, NIIMS would likely not be any different.

Other witnesses also told the court about other possible threats that could be posed by this kind of data collection, such as modern colonization, human profiling, among other threats.

The government has however dismissed claims that the system is unbeneficial saying that it is encrypted such that everything is secure.

The state is said to have used six billion shillings on useless electronic systems to collect citizens’ data during the Huduma Namba exercise.

Anand Venkatanatayanan and the other experts were testifying on behalf of the Nubian community who have challenged the viability of Huduma Namba.

The hearing of the case continues today, Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

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