Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) suffered a cybersecurity attack from Medusa ransomware hackers in March 2023 Medusa demanded KSh 67.6 million to return 514 GB of data it had breached from the airport authority Kenya Airports Authority confirmed that the data breach did not have a significant operational and financial impact.
Two Kenyan entities – public and private – have become victims of ransomware hackers.
Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and Jubilee Insurance Kenya suffered from a cyberattack by the notorious group in March 2023.
KAA data breach by Medusa Medusa demanded KSh 67.6 million from KAA, which the authority has said it did not engage them since the breach was insignificant.
The hackers released 514 GB of data breached from the airport on Tuesday, April 18. They claimed to have information on procurement plans, physical plans, site surveys, invoices and receipts. KAA disputed the claim saying the data accessed is public information and does not pose any danger. “All the data that was accessed is public information. We didn’t know if they had made copies of what they claimed to have,” said an official from KAA, as quoted by NTV. He said the hackers gained access using one of the KAA engineer’s Identity Card and passport.
Jubilee Insurance cyberattack Another notorious group dubbed LockBit claimed to have hacked Jubilee Insurance, doing away with 662 GB of the company data. The hackers gave the insurance firm until Friday, April 14, 2023 to pay the ransomware before they could return the data.
According to the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA), incidences of cyberattacks have increased in the country since 2019.
Cyberattacks in Kenya CA data showed 359.2 million cyber threats, up 154.4 million were reported in the year 2020-21, representing a 133% growth.
Apart from ransomware, there are many other cyber crimes in Kenya that continue to intrigue and horrify companies. According to Kaspersky’s Spam and Phishing Report 2022, 8.7% of individuals and corporate users in Africa were affected by phishing attacks. Out of this, 9.7% are from South Africa, followed by Kenya at 8.4% and Nigeria at 7%.
Source: Tuko
