Kabarak University Facebook account retrieved
In a recent cybercrime incident, the official Facebook page of Kabarak University was hacked, causing a ripple of concern among its followers.
On Tuesday, May 9, the university successfully regained control of the account.
A spokesperson for the university confirmed the recovery of the account in an interview declined to reveal whether the hacker had been identified and action taken.
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The university’s ICT team leader also opted not to comment on the situation.
“We’ve been able to restore our account and have removed all unauthorized posts,” the spokesperson said.
“The university takes such incidents very seriously and has taken appropriate measures to further secure our digital presence.”
On the day of recovery, the university posted an advertisement video, signalling that the ongoing May intake was still in progress.
The university also replaced its profile and cover photos with the official university logo and banner.
At the time of the hack, the university’s verified page boasted a following of 46,000 and 36,000 likes. Remarkably, upon recovery, the page’s likes had surged to 47,000, and followers almost doubled to 72,000.
Prof. Henry Kiplagat, the University Vice-Chancellor, confirmed that they sought assistance from Facebook’s parent company, Meta, in retrieving the account. He also stated that the cybercrime incident had been reported to the relevant authorities.
“We have forwarded this case to the concerned authorities for appropriate action against the perpetrators,” Prof. Kiplagat explained. “We deeply regret any inconvenience caused by this malicious act.”
The hacker, claiming to be a student from an IT-based high school in Jakarta, Indonesia, had posted a cryptic message on May 7, stating that they were merely having fun. They also demanded Sh68,250 ($500) for the return of the account.
“I will not return this account, but I challenge all of you to reclaim this account immediately,” they wrote.
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