There is no evidence that unauthorized access into sensitive data of the Government and or data leakage and or data loss was incurred during the recent attack, Government Spokesperson Isaac Mwaura has stated.
On Tuesday morning, the official website of President William Ruto, www.president.go.ke, became unavailable, sparking public concern and raising questions on national cybersecurity preparedness.
However, speaking at a press briefing in Nairobi today, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy confirmed an incident occurred that affected the presidential website only.
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It says the ICT Authority (ICTA), detected the incident and promptly activated national cybersecurity response measures to contain it and ensure a detailed forensic assessment was done.
“The incident had a limited scope and impacted only the presidential website. We are currently not aware of any unauthorized intrusion to the national digital systems,” Mwaura said in a statement to newsrooms.
“Based on available information, there has been no unauthorized access into sensitive government data, no data leakage, and no data loss. Government systems and digital services are safe and functional.”
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The Ministry also said ICTA is collaborating with the relevant government agencies, stakeholders and technical partners to carry out a comprehensive forensic investigation.
These include the Director of Criminal Investigation (DCI) and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) for purposes of establishing the origin, scope, and impact of the cyber-attack.
It added that remediation efforts have already begun. The government assured citizens that it is continuously working on improving its cybersecurity posture to combat the escalating wave of online threats against public and critical infrastructure, which in the recent past reports showed has attracted billions of cyberattacks on Government Systems and Critical Infrastructure in the recent past, with a goal to ensure the integrity, confidentiality and availability of its digital systems.
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It emphasized commitment in enhancing public sector digital infrastructure defense mechanisms and will use lessons from this investigation to reinforce defenses against such attacks.
Officials advise members of the public to only rely on official channels for official communications during the process of restoring the website to normalcy.
