The government has moved to reassure Kenyans after a cyberattack targeted the Office of the President’s website, with ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo confirming that efforts to restore and secure the platform are underway.
In a statement issued on Saturday, Kabogo said the agencies responsible for protecting government digital systems had taken control of the situation following the breach.
“The responsible agencies that protect websites are on top of stuff,” the ICT Cabinet Secretary said, adding that the incident had been contained as restoration work continued.
His remarks came hours after the official presidential website, president.go.ke, was compromised by hackers who replaced its homepage with unauthorised content.
The hackers proceeded to deface the site by deleting the official content and putting up posts addressing President William Ruto. Moreover, they made a demand for Bitcoin payments as a ransom, warning that information was going to be revealed if there would be no compliance with their demands.
The hackers modified the banner of the website with their own message despite the presence of the official State House logos on the website.
However, Kabogo did not provide details regarding the extent of the breach nor the exposure of government data. Nevertheless, he reassured the public that the departments responsible for the protection of government websites are taking care of the issue.
The incident marks yet another example of the increasing problem of cyber attacks against government websites as the authorities are striving to ensure that such sites have adequate protection.
By Saturday afternoon, attempts to restore the website were ongoing as the cybersecurity experts were trying to resolve the issue.