- Concerns emerged across the country alleging that there were cases of exam cheating in the KCSE examinations of 2022
- Chiloba said the identified cases are mostly related to cybercrime which has become a big challenge to the Authority.
Image: LEAH MUKANGAI
Communications Authority of Kenya Director General Ezra Chiloba has announced they are currently handling 36 cases of social media accounts impersonating the Ministry of Education.
Appearing before the National Assembly Education Committee on Tuesday, Chiloba was to explain whether the Authority had received or investigated any reports related to cybercrimes with regard to national examination malpractices in the year 2022.
Concerns emerged across the country alleging that there were cases of exam cheating in the KCSE examinations of 2022
Chiloba said the identified cases are mostly related to cybercrime which has become a big challenge to the Authority.
“Over the last three years, the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team - Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC) has detected, received, and handled a total of 98 cases of social media accounts perpetrating cyber-crime targeted at the education sector,” Chiloba said.
He said in 2021, the National KE-CIRT/CC handled 34 cases of social media impersonation targeted at the Ministry of Education, Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC) and Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
In 2022 the authority handled 28 cases and currently handling 36 cases in 2023.
Further, the Authority was to advise the Committee on policy interventions to curb examination malpractices and protect the integrity from infringement of security measures using computers and mobile phone applications.
Chiloba said in order to curb cases of social media impersonation, the National KE-CIRT/CC has facilitated the verification of the genuine social media accounts for KNEC and TSC.
“In order to curb the impersonation of critical players in the education sector, the National KE-CIRT/CC; Facilitates the verification of social media accounts owned by KNEC and the Teacher’s Service Commission,” Chiloba said.
He added that the authority continuously monitors the social media space for accounts perpetrating possible examination-related information, including examination cheating.
According to committee chair Julius Melly, CA has failed to convince the committee of ways to curb examinations cheating.
“Our discussions were not conclusive. We have actually directed the Communications Authority to come before this committee with more detailed information on cyber security information on cheating,” Melly said.
The Authority will now appear before the education committee next week with new guidelines on how to curb cheating in exams.