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Kenyan government official websites hacked and defaced


The National Development Implementation and Technical Communication (NDICT) and ICT Authority-run Integrated Financial Management Information Systems (IFMIS) are both down following a cyber-attack.

A team calling itself Kurd Electronic Team has left a series of incomprehensible text on the IFMIS website and disabled its functionality.

The website, which is currently undergoing maintenance, has a large logo plastered on it by the hackers.

“We’ll be back soon! Sorry for the inconvenience but we’re performing some maintenance at the moment. If you need to you can always contact us, otherwise we’ll be back online shortly! GoK Cyber Security Team,” is the message that appears when one attempts to log in.

According to the Kurd Electronic Team site, their activities include, but are not limited to, homepage defacement, mass defacement and IP Address locations.

PHOTO | COURTESY
PHOTO | COURTESY

DEFACEMENT

The government is yet to issue a statement on the websites current status.

This is not the first time that the websites of government agencies are being hit by hackers.

In 2017, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) website was hacked. CA is the State agency that regulates Internet resources for public and private entities.

CA’s website was hacked by a group calling itself AnonPlus that replaced the regulator’s homepage with a five-point hackers’ manifesto promising to ‘defend freedom of information, freedom of the people and emancipation of the latter from the oppression of media and those who govern us’.

CYBER-ATTACKS

Interestingly, by extension, the agency is supposed to protect all government sites from malicious attack.

The hackers also took down the National Environment Management Authority (Nema) website for several hours casting doubt on preparedness of Kenyan State agencies to fight cyber crime.

In 2014, the Kenya ICT Authority embarked on an overhaul of government websites to host them under one server in a bid to boost security in the wake of massive cyber-attacks that had seen even Deputy President William Ruto fall victim.