The event aims to create awareness on cyber threats and discuss available technologies to build business resilience
Nairobi, Kenya – 19th October 2023 … As part of the CyberSecurity awareness month, Safaricom (NSE: SCOM) has today hosted an industry wide cyber security summit with a call on businesses, government and individuals to invest in technologies that protect sensitive information and critical systems from cyber threats.
The event marked under the theme Becoming a Cyber resilient Organisation, brought together close to 400 cybersecurity industry leaders and professionals physically and virtually to discuss the latest cyber security trends and evolving enterprise networks.
“Cybercrime is becoming increasingly professionalised, leading to a proliferation of numerous subtle and sophisticated threats. Attackers are constantly working on designing, building, and evolving solutions to bypass or overcome the most advanced cybersecurity solutions. This has created a landscape in which companies face more significant cyber threats than ever before. As cyber threat actors refine their techniques, attacks will become even more common, and companies will face novel and more dangerous cyber threats,” said Nicholas Mulila, Chief Corporate Security Officer, Safaricom PLC.
Statistics from the Communications Authority show that between July to September 2023, Kenya experienced more than 123million cyber threat events.
“At Safaricom, we continue to provide a variety of solutions that connect, protect, enable, and transform business, ensuring business continuity even in the face of cyber attacks. We offer security advisory, network security, online/data/web security, cyber security operations and physical security that includes a video surveillance system. We also have an enhanced cloud solution that is augmented with cyber security, and reliable connectivity and payment services,” said Cynthia Kropac, Chief Enterprise Business Officer, Safaricom PLC.
Last year, the government introduced a National Cybersecurity Strategy (2022-2027) that outlines an implementation framework and timeline to address gaps in the changing cyberspace.
“Cyber crimes are increasing due to the advances in technology. Cybersecurity is key to everything we do. We have developed an integrated cooperative management system to transform our systems from analogue to digital to improve our efficiency in service delivery and we are committed to safeguard this platform from cyber threats ,” said Patrick Kilemi, Principal Secretary, State Department for Cooperatives.
Other dignitaries present at the forum were Jackson Makewa, Director Cybersecurity, Department for Information Communications and Colonel James Kimuyu, Director General, National Computer and Cybercrimes.
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About Safaricom
Safaricom is the leading telecommunication company in East Africa. Our purpose is to transform lives by connecting people to people, people to opportunities and people to information. We keep over 42 million customers connected and play a critical role in the society, supporting over one million jobs both directly and indirectly while our total economic value was estimated at KES 393 Billion ($ 3.1 billion) for the 12 months through March 2022.
Listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and with annual revenues of close to KES 310 billion at March 2023. Safaricom provides connectivity through wide range of technology, 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G in aggregate covering over 99% of Kenya’s population.
We run the world’s largest mobile payment system and Africa’s largest Fintech, M-PESA, the world’s first mobile money transfer system. By empowering over 30 million customers to transact, save or borrow money through their mobile phone, M-PESA has driven financial inclusion in Kenya to more than 84% of the adult population from a low of 25% and generated over KES 117 Billion in revenue as at FY23.
Our subsidiary, Safaricom Telecommunications Ethiopia launched in 2022 with an ambition to contribute to Ethiopia’s digital transformation.
Safaricom is an equal opportunity employer, actively recruiting staff from different backgrounds reflecting the communities that we serve. We are committed to equal gender representation at all levels. Our target is to achieve 50:50 senior management gender parity by 2025.
As part of our ongoing commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we continue to work towards improving energy and resource efficiency in our network and facilities to reduce carbon emissions and our fuel consumption. We remain committed to becoming a Net Zero carbon-emitting company by 2050.
