Cyber threats surge as Kenya records 840 million attacks between October and December 2024

Kenya recorded 840.9 million cyber threats between October and December 2024, marking a rise in attacks, new data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) reveals.

This represents a 27.2 per cent increase from the 657.8 million threats detected in the previous quarter (July–September 2024).

The surge was driven mainly by system vulnerabilities, which accounted for 752.4 million cases, reflecting a 28.9 per cent rise.

Malware incidents also saw a slight increase, reaching 33.9 million.

However, the most alarming spike was in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, where cybercriminals flood online services with excessive traffic to render them inaccessible.

These attacks surged by 727 per cent, rising from 1,826,259 in the first quarter to 15,095,217 by the end of December.

Other cyber threats also increased. Web app attacks grew from 3,520,651 to 4,542,939, while mobile app attacks rose from 117,661 to 138,175.

Meanwhile, Kenya saw a shift in mobile phone usage during the same period.

Smartphone uptake increased to 80.5 per cent, while feature phone usage declined to 59.3 per cent.

CA attributed this trend to the expansion of mobile broadband networks, which now cover 97 per cent of the population.

“The rapid uptake in smartphones is attributable to the increased expansion of mobile broadband networks across the country that currently stands at 97.0 per cent population coverage,” CA stated.

“Increased availability and affordability of smartphones coupled with increased demand for access to digital services have significantly boosted smartphone penetration,” it added.

Mobile (SIM) subscriptions also grew by 2 per cent, up from the 1.6 per cent growth recorded at the end of September 2024.

The authority linked this rise to the festive season, which drove active SIM cards to 71.4 million, resulting in a penetration rate of 138.5 per cent.

Safaricom continued to dominate the mobile service market with a 65.2 per cent share, followed by Airtel at 30.1 per cent and Telkom at 1.6 per cent.

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Mobile money services, including M-Pesa and Airtel Money, saw a 4.1 per cent increase, reaching 42.3 million users and pushing the penetration rate to 82.1 per cent.