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Cyberattacks against Kenya more than double to 8.6bn in a year
The number of detected threats rose by 146 percent to 8.6 billion during the year to June 2025, up from 3.5 billion in a similar period the preceding year.
The number of cybercrime attacks deployed against Kenyan institutions more than doubled during the year ended June 2025, underscoring enhanced aggression by threat actors amid the accelerated digitisation of both public and private workflow systems.
Analysis of data released by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) shows that the number of detected threats rose by 146 percent to 8.6 billion during the year under review, up from 3.5 billion in a similar period the preceding year.
The period between April and June 2025 saw the highest number of threats ever recorded in a single quarter, at 4.6 billion, dwarfing the 2.5 billion incidents detected between January and March this year.
“The sharp rise in detected cyber threats can be attributed to several factors, including inadequate system patching, limited user awareness of threat vectors such as phishing and other social engineering techniques, as well as the growing adoption of AI-driven attacks and machine learning technologies by malicious actors,” wrote the CA in a new report.
“The authority continued to enhance the dissemination of cyber threat advisories to critical information infrastructure sectors as part of its proactive response to the evolving cyber threat landscape.”
System attacks were the most prevalent type of attack at the end of the year, with 4.5 billion incidents detected as criminals sought to compromise systems used in critical sectors.
This type of attack attempts to compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of computer systems or the data they process. The attacks exploit vulnerabilities in computer software and hardware or human behaviours to launch assaults.
“The majority of attacks targeted the ICT sector, with a focus on operating systems and database servers managed by internet service providers (ISPs) and cloud service providers. Threat actors primarily exploited outdated system vulnerabilities and exfiltrated user login credentials,” noted the CA.
“The persistence of such vulnerabilities is largely attributed to the rapid proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, many of which lack comprehensive security protocols.”
Other types of attack that featured prominently included distributed denial of service (DDoS), assaults on web and mobile applications, and brute force and malware warfare.
In October last year, the communications industry regulator issued a report warning of what it termed as the proliferation of AI-powered cyberattacks. It noted that cybercriminals were using up-scaled technology to increase the efficiency and magnitude of their operations.
“They leverage AI and machine learning to automate the creation of phishing emails and other types of social engineering,” wrote CA director-general David Mugonyi in the report at the time.
