CS Owalo confirms hacking of eCitizen, explains what happened

Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo has confirmed that there was a cyber-attack on the eCitizen platform.

In an interview on Spice FM, Owalo confirmed the hacking that was reported this week.

“There was an attack. We are addressing that, we are not just coming up with instant remedial measures to address the current situation, we will build an elaborate risk mitigation framework,” he added.

The ICT CS went on to explain what happened during the latest attack.

“They tried jamming the system by making more than ordinary requests into the system. It started by slowing down the system and we address it,” he said.

The CS assured that no data was accessed by the hackers, and none was lost.

Owalo said such incidents call for the need for continued digitization of services, and should not hinder the country's progress in adopting advanced technological solutions.

Instead, the focus should be on building a robust risk mitigation framework to ensure sustainable digitalization.

"We cannot stop digitizing our records and digitalizing our services because we are risk-averse," said Owalo.

He said the Ministry has taken stringent security measures to safeguard the platform from any potential data breaches in the future.

To further bolster the country's cyber defense capabilities, the CS revealed that the government has formed a multifaceted team responsible for proactively monitoring global cyber security trends.

This team will learn from international best practices in cyber threat mitigation and develop appropriate risk mitigation measures to ensure the resilience of the nation's digital infrastructure.

Concerns over a cyber-attack on eCitizen began this week, with Kenyans saying they were unable to access the platform.

At press time, a number of citizens said they still could not access e-citizen services.

The platform is a one-stop shop for over 5,000 government services from ministries, county governments and agencies.