The Ministry of Defence and the Kenya Defence Forces will always be at the forefront in ensuring that the country wins the fight against cybercrime.
This is according to the Defence Cabinet Secretary (CS) Amb Raychelle Omamo who made the revelations during the official launch of the 2017 Africa Cyber Security Report in Nairobi.
The CS noted that cybercrime is major threat to the development agenda of the country and hence it deserves stringent measures to be put on place.
“The Ministry of Defence and the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) will continue to be at the forefront of national security issues, including through the development and enhancement of national cyber defence capabilities and policies such as the Kenya Cyber Security Bill which is undergoing the process of parliamentary approval,” said Amb Omamo on Monday.
Acknowledging the need of internet connections in the day to day running of activities, the CS said that internet had become more vulnerable and easily accessed by strangers and hackers who in turn commit crimes, spread propaganda and more so indoctrinate and radicalise elements within the society.
“International terrorism, organized cyber-crime, internationally-coordinated cyber-attacks, propaganda and fake news and espionage are perpetuated by criminal elements over a network that gives them access to a wide audience of billions of people, representing billions of potential victims of malicious software viruses, money-minting scams, indoctrination and radicalization among others, ” added the CS.
The Defence CS further urged all the stakeholders to join hands in the fight against cybercrime since it is not easy for only one entity to try and eliminate the threat paused by cybercrime.
“In addition to the traditional threats such as armed conflict, we are now confronted by attacks of a different nature and character, with attackers operating from the boundless, ungoverned spaces of the internet, essentially making them transnational and challenging to contain.”
Pointing out poor regulation and framework to counter cybercrime, the Cabinet Secretary insisted that there is need to have regulations and guidelines to curb the menace that has costed Kenyans millions of money and others subjected to cyber bullying.
“Cyberspace as it currently exists is easily accessible, loosely regulated and difficult to control. Our information systems are inter-connected thereby making them effectively predisposed to attacks from cyber criminals."
"The threat environment is made more vulnerable and complicated by the cross-cutting impact on different states, social structures and actors, the difficulty of identifying their origin, and the capability of security and legislative frame works to evolve rapidly to address these challenges,” concluded the CS.
According to the 2017 Africa Cyber Security Report by Serianu Limited, Kenya lost Sh21 billion to cyber-crime last year with ransomware and fake news being the latest forms that hackers are using the fleece mostly individuals and small and medium enterprises.
This indicates that banks and financial services firms are the most targeted institutions.
The report indicates that the number of threats and data breaches increased with clear evidence that home grown cyber criminals are becoming more skilled and targeted.
The security firm says this is because 90 percent of African organizations operate below the cyber security poverty line.