[PHOTOS] Cyberspace anonymity is a generational threat, PS Omollo warns

Omollo said that while governments continue strengthening cybersecurity infrastructure, the challenge of users hiding behind faceless accounts has become a major stumbling block to digital justice.
He noted that anonymity often frustrates accountability efforts, slows or derails investigations, and complicates the presentation of digital evidence before courts of law.

Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo has warned that growing anonymity in the digital space is emerging as one of the most serious generational threats facing Africa.

This, he adds, undermines cybercrime investigations and exposes millions of young people to unprecedented online risks.

Speaking during the Third African Forum on Cybercrime and Electronic Evidence on Tuesday, Omollo said that while governments continue strengthening cybersecurity infrastructure, the challenge of users hiding behind faceless accounts has become a major stumbling block to digital justice.

He noted that anonymity often frustrates accountability efforts, slows or derails investigations, and complicates the presentation of digital evidence before courts of law.

“Across Africa, anonymity continues to impede investigations, frustrate accountability, and complicate the presentation of digital material before courts,” he said.

Omollo cautioned that the implications go beyond law enforcement and extend deeply into the safety of young people, who make up the continent’s largest and fastest-growing online demographic.

According to him, many youths still interpret privacy and security online only through the lens of social interactions, while overlooking the darker risks that come with exposing personal information in unsecured digital environments.

“We are running a real risk of a generation exposed to identity theft, misinformation, exploitation, and manipulation on an unprecedented scale,” he warned, adding that the region must reimagine cybersecurity as not just a technical priority but a social and generational safeguard.

Omollo called for a deliberate strategy to place young people at the centre of the cybersecurity conversation through education, inclusive policy-making, and awareness campaigns that speak directly to their realities in the digital age.