The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy has assured Kenyans that no sensitive government information was compromised following the cyberattack that targeted the official website of the President.
In a statement issued on Saturday, July 18, ICT Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo said the government had responded immediately after detecting the breach, with emergency cybersecurity measures already in place.
Kabogo explained that the ICT Authority activated its standard cyber incident response procedures to contain the attack and begin restoring the affected platform.
"As a precautionary measure, access to the Presidential website was temporarily restricted to facilitate containment, forensic analysis and restoration efforts," Kabogo said.
He also sought to calm concerns over the security of government digital infrastructure, saying initial investigations had not found any signs that confidential information had been accessed or stolen.
"At this time, there is no evidence of unauthorised access to sensitive data, data exfiltration, or loss of information. Government systems and digital services remain secure and operational," he added.
Kabogo's statement came hours after hackers defaced the President's official website, replacing its homepage with messages targeting President William Ruto and demanding a Ksh41 million ransom.
Visitors to president.go.ke found the site's official content removed and replaced with insulting messages directed at the Head of State.
The hackers also published allegations against Ruto, displayed a cryptocurrency wallet address and demanded payment, threatening to leak unspecified information if the ransom was not paid.
"This message is the third time for you; before we leak everything about you. Do a payment of 5 bitcoins to the Bitcoin wallet...If you want peace before 6 o’clock this evening," the defaced homepage stated.
They also modified the website's banner to display a message mentioning three individuals, while the official State House branding remained visible in the background.
Although the ICT Ministry has maintained that government systems remain secure, it has not identified those behind the attack, with investigations still underway.
