E-Citizen Hacked: Eliud Owalo Confirms Breach Of Gov't Digital Platform By Cyber Attackers

• E-Citizen platform that offers over 5,000 government services suffered cyber security attacks
• Kenyans raised concerns over system delays and service breakdowns one month after the government onboarded the new services
• ICT Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo revealed that there was a hacking attempt but did not confirm who the attackers were

The E-Citizen platform was hacked barely a month after the government onboarded over 5,000 services, ICT CS Eliud Owalo has confirmed.

Owalo said it is an inevitable trend in the changing technological world, adding that cyber-attacks are predominant globally.

Was E-Citizen data breached by hackers?

The CS assured that no data was accessed, reiterating that the government will continue with its digital plan despite such risks.

"That is not strange to me because cyber attack is predominant the world over. We cannot stop digitising our records and services because we are risk averse," said Owalo during an interview with a local radio station, Spice FM on Thursday, July 27.

Owalo noted that the government was setting up an elaborate risk mitigation framework to deal with the attack and related risks in the future.

He said this will lead to sustainable digitalisation, which is part of President William Ruto's key government agenda.

How E-Citizen was hacked

Owalo revealed that the cyber attackers did not access any data from the platform but tried to overcrowd it with many requests, leading to the service breakdown.

He added that the government ensures data privacy and security through the Data Commissioner's office.

"They tried jamming the system by making more than ordinary requests. This slowed down the system, but we addressed the issue and no data has been accessed or lost.

"We have established and operationalised the office of the data commissioner anchored on the law to ensure the data privacy and security mandate is well executed," he said.

As part of the remedial measures to curb cyber security, the government formed a multifaceted team responsible for proactively monitoring global cyber security trends.

Government to blame over cyber attacks on its websites

In an exclusive interview with TUKO.co.ke, Dan Murithi, founder and CEO of Starling Technologies, an ICT company, blamed the government for cyber attacks on its websites.

Murithi noted that the government is not keen when it comes to recruiting ICT officers and contractors of technology services.

“People are employed based on who they know, not what they know. You find that the people handling IT cannot troubleshoot websites and systems.

A qualified person knows that when the developers are done with the system, they must hand over the source code and login credentials. The system must also be fitted with malware detection and have backups in case the website is hacked, it can be restored within 15 minutes," explained Murithi.

Kenya Airports Authority hacked

The E-Citizen attack came three months after Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) suffered a cybersecurity attack from Medusa ransomware hackers in March 2023.

Medusa demanded KSh 67.6 million to return 514 GB of data it had breached from the airport authority.

KAA confirmed the data breach, saying it did not have a significant operational and financial impact.