Cybercriminals fleeced Kenyan businesses Sh29.8 billion in 2018

Samuel GitongaMay 17, 20191 Mins read1.2k

An illustrative image of a cybercriminal at work. Kenya needs 1,000 qualified risk management professionals annually, yet over the last three years, the population has grown from just under 20 to about 120 today.

Kenyan businesses bled Ksh29.8 billion to cybercrime in 2018 while it is projected that malware attacks will rise this year, The 2018 Africa Cybersecurity report by Serianu shows.

The report authored by the Pan African cybersecurity consultancy firm shows that during the year, executives were more aware of the danger that cybercrime pose to their firms and as such there was a 50% increase involvement in matters cyber security by board members.

Serianu’s report shows that ATM attacks and phising attempts (fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity) were frequent during the year as were SIM swap cases.

According to the report, SIM swap has become a lucrative enterprise in Kenya particularly because of the increased adoption of mobile money services and mobile number based authentication.

“Cybercriminals gather enough information on a target such as ID details and Pin numbers etc through confidence tricks they create a false identity,” reads the report “Using this information, the attackers then contact the service provider and request for a SIM card replacement and thereafter start transacting using your phone number,”

{Read: KNCCI calls for tough cybercrime laws to protect E-commerce platforms}

Conversely, during the year an 11% increase in the number of cybercrime cases reported to the police was recorded while 7% of those cases were successfully prosecuted.

Serianu in its 2018 report made similar observations as in its 2017 report, warning that the country is facing a shortage of cyber criminal experts.

The effect of that is that Kenyan businesses will face a 60% shortage of cybercrime experts in 2019.

“We estimate that today, Kenya needs at least 10,000 cyber security professionals to keep abreast with the number of organisations in need of this critical skill, yet we have observed that each year, just about 100 new personnel join the market,” reads the report.