This archive report was first published on 8 November 2019.
Friday, November 8, 2019, marked a significant day for IT professionals as they grappled with the reality of cybercrime in the hyperconnected Internet of Things (IoT) landscape.
With billions of devices interconnected and zillions of confidential data stored in servers, the threat of cybercrime looms large. As FAUSTINE NGILA noted, 'You need technology to improve the quality of life but your efforts can be rendered useless when malevolent people use it to cause harm.'
Recent cyber-attacks in Georgia and Bulgaria serve as a stark reminder of the dangers of cybercrime. In October 2019, over 2,000 websites, including those of the president, courts, and media, were hacked in a massive cyber-attack in Georgia. The attackers displayed a photo of the country's exiled former president Mikheil Saakashvili with an inscription 'I'll be back!'
Similarly, in July 2019, five million citizens in Bulgaria lost access to their financial data in an incursion that compromised nearly every adult's private records.
Locally, several Kenyan government websites running on the Unix-based FreeBSD operating system were hacked in June. The recent cyber security forum in Nairobi highlighted the need for cyber resilience in mitigating against the vagaries of a growing digital economy.
Speaking at the event, ESET East Africa CEO Karen Cherry voiced her support for Kenya's Vision 2030 through cyber resilience. She noted that with over 50 million attacks between January and June 2019, there is certainly good reason for the Kenyan government to be kept abreast of global threats and how to mitigate against them.
