NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 27 – Kenya recorded 2.6 billion cyber threat events in the three months to September 2026, a 14.45 percent increase from the previous quarter, according to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
The regulator attributed the rise to inadequate system updates, limited public awareness of phishing and other social engineering attacks, and the growing use of artificial intelligence by criminals to carry out more sophisticated attacks.
System attacks accounted for the largest share of detected threats at 2.55 billion, followed by malware at 8.37 million, brute-force attacks at 916,418 and web attacks at 549,931. The report also recorded 18,837 mobile application attacks, 13,201 distributed denial-of-service attacks and 112 other attack events.
In response, the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team Coordination Centre (National KE-CIRT/CC) issued 20.3 million cyber threat advisories between July and September 2026, a 2.36 percent decline from the number issued in the April-to-June period.
The advisories targeted detected threats and provided guidance to organisations on strengthening their cyber defences, including those operating critical information infrastructure.
The CA said it continued to issue technical advisories urging organisations to update their systems and applications promptly, introduce multi-factor authentication, strengthen password management and properly configure firewalls and antivirus software.
The regulator warned that as cyber threats evolve, organisations need to address weaknesses in their systems and improve user awareness to reduce the risk of attacks.
