Economy

Cyber attacks more than double

cyber

Cyber-attacks rose 153 percent in the three months to September from June highlighting the growing risk for companies and government officers working remotely in the wake of the coronavirus disease.

Communications Authority (CA) data shows that 35.2 million cyber-attacks were detected in the period, more than double 13.9 million in June after the outbreak of the Covid-19 forced the State and private companies to adopt work from home policy.

The rise in cyber-attacks points to the growing vulnerability facing institutions like banks, business and state offices who risk losing confidential information and billions of shillings to hackers.

The attacks include cases of malicious software (malware) where hackers use computer programmes to gain illegal access to confidential information, web application attacks, system misconfiguration and online child abuse.

A raft of Covid-19 restrictions like ban on social gatherings, dusk to dawn curfew, travel freezes forced businesses and public institutions to work from home.

“This increase in cyber threat attacks detected was attributed to the move to working remotely and increased uptake of e-commerce in response to the Covid-19 pandemic,” CA says in the report.

“This increased vulnerability of organisations and businesses to cyber criminals who targeted remote working systems and tools, and e-commerce sites for fraudulent gains.”