ICT Cabinet Secretary, Eliud Owalo, provided reassurance to Kenyans on Thursday, July 27, stating that no data had been compromised after hackers launched attacks on crucial government websites, including eCitizen.
Throughout the week, Kenyans have raised valid concerns regarding data leaks, given that eCitizen serves as a comprehensive platform for all government services.
In response to these concerns, Owalo has reassured the public that the government is actively addressing the matter, emphasizing that there is no need for Kenyans to panic.
“We have a challenge on the e-citizen platform due to that attack, but we are addressing it. We will ensure it is fully functional in the course of today,” Owalo assured.
During an interview on Spice FM, the CS revealed that the country is proactively addressing cyber insecurity by benchmarking with leading players on a global scale, such as Israel and India.
“We need to strategically communicate to the public and tell them what has happened, what we are doing, and the framework put in place to deal with such issues in the future,”
“There is no cause for alarm, we have adequate resources to deal with cases of cyber insecurity,” he added
Owalo added that the ministry was working to enhance its capacity to deal with such attacks in the future.
Despite acknowledging that the hacks had crippled government services, the cabinet secretary said the experience provides the perfect platform for learning, exploring new technologies, and developing strategies to deal with cybersecurity breaches.
This came in the wake of several statements issued by Sudanese hackers who claimed to have hacked at least five online platforms in Kenya. The hackers claimed that the attacks were staged in response to Kenya’s meddling in the troubled country’s internal affairs.
After the attacks that began on Monday, July 24, crucial government services such as securing driving license renewals, birth certificates, business registration, marriage certificates, passport applications, and good conduct requests became inaccessible to Kenyans.
This was not the first time that key government websites had been hacked. A few weeks prior, Kenyans reported downtimes on Gava Mkononi, a portal that aggregates 5,000 services under one platform.
