Dennis Itumbi recovers Twitter account following suspicious hacking
Dennis Itumbi, a renowned, controversial blogger and recently appointed Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy, announced that he had recovered his Twitter account after two weeks of being locked out.
“I just beat the hackers – they managed to lock me out for a while. I planted a flag of victory on their territory too. They will struggle to be back. Goodnight, people,” said CAS Itumbi on April 4, 2023.
He had initially announced on his Facebook page that a cryptocurrency group had allegedly hacked his Twitter account- and during these two weeks, he was supposed to undergo vetting for the CAS position before Parliament decided it was not going to vet CAS nominees. They were directly appointed by the President.
However, the alleged hacking raised questions after he pointed the finger at a group associated with Crypto Currency for taking over his account and locking him out.
Cryptocurrency marketers and sellers on the dark web are known to hack highly followed accounts and actively use them to get clients.
Also read: Dennis Itumbi’s Twitter account ‘hacked’
This was seen in the case of Ghanaian YouTuber Wode Maya’s YouTube page which was hacked with over 1,2 million subscribers, and the hackers live-streamed crypto currency-related content for several days before he could recover his account.
However, on Dennis Itumbi’s allegedly hacked Twitter account, only one post was made by the alleged hackers, and they posted one noun, Northlands.
This is the name of the farm belonging to the Kenyatta family- the family of Kenya’s first and fourth presidents- which was attacked a few hours after CAS Itumbi’s Twitter account posted the Northlands name.
The tweet was later deleted.
Hooligans and looters raided the Northlands Farm, stole livestock worth Sh 70 million, erected illegal structures as they claimed they were settling on the land by force, and later set the farm on fire.
Also read: Maandamano! Dennis Itumbi skips court session, says life is in danger
This destruction of private property happened during opposition-led demonstrations championed by Raila Odinga.
At the time of the raid and destruction, the opposition leaders were on the other side of the city, leading their supporters against the high cost of living and against President William Ruto’s presidency.
The destruction of the farm was linked to some leaders and politicians within President Ruto’s government as allegations went around that they were exacting political revenge using the cover of the opposition demonstrations.
Several politicians came out to deny rumors that they had organized the raid as some made media rounds to attempt to clear their names.
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CAS Itumbi is no visitor to claims of hacking online platforms. He was once accused of hacking the International Criminal Court’s website and its emails circa 2012 while he was a senior director of Digital, Innovations, and Diaspora Communications in the State House.
The ICC sought the help of Kenya’s top law enforcement authorities to go after persons of interest in Kenya, and Itumbi was top on the list.
The ICC had been investigating several high-profile Kenyans, including former president Uhuru Kenyatta and President William Ruto- both who formed the government from 2013-2022- for crimes against humanity following the 2007/8 post-election violence.
Itumbi’s alleged hacking was related to the list of protected witnesses lined up to testify against the Kenyans accused of instigating the PEV.
Also read: Dennis Itumbi: Shut up about blogger Bogonko’s disappearance!