- Data by KNBS shows the country records on average, one million online crimes every day.
- In the 2023 Economic Survey, the statistics body says the total number of reported online crimes more than doubled from 339.1 million in 2021 to 700.0 million in 2022.
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Online threats in the country for the three months period to June this year declined by 25.6 per cent to 139.8 million.
This is from 187.8 million recorded in the previous quarter, according to the latest sector report by Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
Although the regulator did not specify the main contributing factor to the decline, the report highlights a significant increase in number of Cyber threat advisories, a counter measure, in the period under review.
The total number of advisories increased by 199.7 per cent to 10.7 million from 3.6 million in the previous quarter.
Cyber threat advisories are notifications of significant new trends or developments regarding the threat to the information systems of an organisation.
They may include analytical insights into trends, intentions, technologies, or tactics of an adversary targeting information systems.
Kenyan businesses and individuals in recent past have increasingly been forced to contend with emerging online threats as the country records on average, one million online crimes every day.
This is according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS’s) 2023 Economic Survey, which says the threat landscape keeps changing time to time, as cloud use keeps on increasing and passwords becoming highly prized by malicious actors.
“Total number of reported online crimes more than doubled from 339.1 million in 2021 to 700.0 million in 2022,” KNBS says.
It attributes the increase to the sophisticated and dynamic nature of cyber threats.
Consequently between 2021 and 2022, the survey indicates cybersecurity advisories increased from 8.0 million in to 13.7 million in 2022, with hackers now setting sights on large organisations.
The Economic Survey further highlighted that system vulnerabilities increased significantly from 58 million in 2021 to 452.4 million in 2022, highlighting the need for organisations to prioritise security patching and risk mitigation strategies.
A Pan-African cyber security report released by Liquid C2, a business unit of Liquid Intelligent Technologies, also shows Cyber attacks on Kenyan businesses increased by about 82 per cent last year.
“Close to 90 per cent of these have experienced a data breach,” says the report.
The renewed threats have increased the demand for technology based courses with a study released in February this year on the net job market, revealing a spike in demand for training in web development, cyberattack and design.