By Reporter
The number of cyber-attacks targeting digitized government services has hit 1.7B threats with the number rising by the day according to the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy.
Despite the attacks, the government has increased the number of digital services to over 17,000 with a promise to double the number in the coming years.
This emerged during the ongoing Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) conference on governance, risk and compliance in Naivasha.
According to Yunis Omar, the Director Cyber security in the Ministry, the government was committed to digitizing all its services despite emerging challenges.
He said that the government had already rolled out over 80,000kms of the 100,000kms of the fiber-optic cable as part of the digitization plans.
Addressing the press on the sidelines of the meeting, Omar said that already 17,000 government services had been digitized easing service delivery.
“As we move to digitize government services, we have seen an increase in cyber-attacks cases with over 1.7B threats reported this year,” he said.
He added that plans were on the way to train over 20m Kenyans on digital literacy, noting that this would come in handy when the whole country was connected to the internet.
To achieve this, he said that the government had identified 25,000 digital hotspots and construction of 1,450 digital hubs by 2027.
“We are working with partners in achieving this and also addressing the issue of data security in the wake of increased cases of cyber threats,” he said.
The President of ISACA Mercy Omollo identified technology and ongoing war in the Middle East as some of the challenges facing the sector.
Omollo this has been worsened by political instability in some countries adding that stakeholders had roles to play in mitigating the disruptors.
“These disruptors have seen levels of regulations rise and we are urging our members to think of innovation in this era of digital transformation,” she said.
On his part, the CEO of association Preston Odero added that they had increased their certifications from one to nine as issues around cyber security continued to rise.
“As cases of cyber-threats continue to rise, there is a need to address data protection which we are doing as our membership rises to over 1,800 members,” he said.
