{
  "id": 8245244,
  "title": "Cyber threats in Kenya up 29pc to 11.1bn",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/cyber-threats-in-kenya-up-29pc-to-11-1bn",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-09-18T12:17:13.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Capital Business",
    "slug": "capital-business",
    "url": "https://capitalfm.africa/cyber-threats-in-kenya-up-29pc-to-11-1bn/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Nairobi, Kenya – The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) reported a significant surge in cyber threats, with 11.1 billion threats recorded during the 2025/26 financial year, marking a 29 percent increase from the previous year's 8.6 billion threats. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks saw the largest rise, increasing by 114.3 percent to 72.1 million, followed by a 99 percent surge in web application attacks to 51.5 million. Malware attacks also escalated by 64.8 percent to 230.3 million, while mobile application attacks grew by 54 percent to 789,826.\n\nThe upward trend in cyber threats was paralleled by an 83.1 million increase in cyber advisories issued to ICT users, a 60.8 percent rise from the previous year. Advisories concerning brute-force attacks experienced the most substantial increase, climbing 365.5 percent to 25.5 million, and web application attack advisories rose 110.5 percent to 40.5 million. The CA has linked the persistent cybersecurity threat landscape to factors such as insufficient system patching, limited cybersecurity awareness, phishing and social engineering tactics, and the rising utilization of artificial intelligence and machine-learning tools by cybercriminals.\n\nThe regulator identified government agencies, educational institutions, financial institutions, and telecommunications companies as high-value targets due to their handling of extensive sensitive data. Cryptocurrency exchanges, foreign exchange trading platforms, and online gambling websites have also become appealing targets as digital services continue to expand.",
  "summary": "The CA has previously attributed the persistent cyber threat landscape to inadequate system patching, low cybersecurity awareness, phishing and social engineering attacks, as well as the growing use of artificial intelligence and machine-learning tools by cybercriminals.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}