Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows a 100pc increase in cybercrimes reported last year from 1.7 billion reported over the same period in 2023.
“During the review period, two new categories of online crimes were reported. These were Brute force attacks which involve automated, systematic attempts to crack passwords or encryption by trying every possible combination until the correct one is found and mobile application attacks which target vulnerabilities in mobile apps to compromise user data or disrupt services,” says KNBS in its 2025 Economic Survey.
The bureau noted that in the twelve month period to December 2024, 127.8 million Brute force attacks and 526,362 mobile application attacks were reported.
System vulnerabilities reported the largest increase in attacks rising from 1.7 billion in the previous year to reach 3.3 billion further highlighting the ever rising challenge by firms to combat threats.
According to cybersecurity strategist Dr Bright Gameli lack proper investments is one of the biggest challenges which has encouraged the rise of threats targeting Kenyan systems.
“Firms are stretched thin because of the fact that they do not invest in people, tools or even training of their people to be cyber resilient,” he said.
Earlier estimates by the Communications Authority (CA) showed that Kenya lost at least 11 billion to cybercriminals activities in 2023 with the figure expected to rise as firms seek new ways to combat the crime.
“There needs to be conversations from the senior management so that they dont always be reactive but rather proactive,” added Dr Gameli.
According to the bureau, the total cybersecurity advisories increased by 48pc cent to reach 39 last year from 26.4 million. The increase was mainly driven by website attacks where advisories issued increased by more than 10 million to reach 13.6 million.
Malware advisories more than doubled from 1.1 million in 2023 to 2.5 million in 2024, while website application attack advisories more than tripled from about 3.9 million in 2023 to 13.6 million in 2024.
KNBS says advisories related to system vulnerabilities declined by 11.3pc while those for botnet/DDoS attacks dropped by 28pc in 2024 to 542,620.
By
Ronald Owili
