The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy has confirmed a cybersecurity incident affecting the official website of the President.
The website’s homepage, president.go.ke, showed that the official content had been replaced with messages targeting the Head of State.
It also displayed allegations against President William Ruto, a cryptocurrency wallet address and a demand for payment.
The hackers are demanding a ransom in Bitcoin equivalent to approximately Ksh.41 million and threatened to release unspecified information if their demands were not met.
“This message is the third time for you. Before we leak everything about you, make a payment of 5 bitcoins to the Bitcoin wallet… If you want peace before 6 o’clock this evening,” the defaced homepage read.
CS Kabogo Confirms Cybersecurity Incident After State House Website Hacked
In a statement issued on Saturday, July 18, Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo said the ICT Authority activated its cybersecurity incident response protocols immediately after detecting the incident, prompting authorities to temporarily restrict access to the website as investigations continue.
“As a precautionary measure, access to the Presidential website was temporarily restricted to facilitate containment, forensic analysis and restoration efforts,” Kabogo said.
The ministry said mitigation measures have since been implemented and efforts to restore the website are ongoing.
Despite the incident, the government maintained that there is currently no evidence of unauthorized access to sensitive data, data theft or loss of information.
“At this time, there is no evidence of unauthorized access to sensitive data, data exfiltration, or loss of information. Government systems and digital services remain secure and operational,” the statement added. This is not the first time hackers have targeted government websites and breached official information portals.
Also Read: How University Dropout Hacked Bank System and Drained Millions- DCI
ICT Authority Begins Forensic Investigation Into Website Breach
He added that the ICT Authority is working with relevant government agencies and technical partners to carry out a comprehensive forensic investigation to establish the cause of the incident and determine the full circumstances surrounding it.
The ministry did not disclose the nature of the cyberattack, who may have been responsible, or when the President’s website is expected to be fully restored.
Speaking during an interview on Spice FM at the time, then Information, Communications and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo acknowledged the attack, saying cyber threats had become increasingly common worldwide.
“Oh yes. To me, that was not strange because cyberattacks are prevalent worldwide,” Owalo said.
He said the attackers sought to overwhelm the system by flooding it with an unusually high volume of requests, causing the platform to slow down.
“They tried jamming the system by making more than the ordinary number of requests. It started by slowing down the system, and we addressed it,” he said.
Also Read: Hackers Give State House Until 6 PM After Taking Over Ruto’s Website
Past Hacking Incidents
The incident comes amid growing concerns over cybersecurity threats targeting government institutions and critical digital infrastructure.
This is not the first time hackers have targeted government websites and breached official information portals.
In November last year, several websites belonging to ministries and state agencies, including Health, Education, Labour, Environment, ICT, Tourism, Interior and State House, were compromised in a coordinated attack.
The attackers defaced the affected websites by replacing official content with unauthorized messages, leaving several government portals inaccessible.
The disruption affected key online services used by the public, while some websites displayed unauthorized messages, including extremist slogans.
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