Kenyan President William Ruto’s official website was compromised by hackers who demanded a KSh 41 million ransom. The attackers have issued an ultimatum to the government, giving authorities until 6 p.m. today to pay or face the release of purportedly sensitive government data.
The cyberattack targeted the President’s official website, with the hackers replacing its normal content with a message claiming responsibility for the breach.
In the message, the attackers demanded 5 Bitcoins in ransom (equivalent to KSh41 million) in exchange for restoring access to the website and preventing the publication of data they claim to have obtained during the attack.
Hackers Demand Ransom in Bitcoin From Ruto by 6 PM
The group set 6 pm as the deadline for the ransom payment, warning that failure to comply would result in the release of what they described as sensitive government information.
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The breach left the official presidential website, president.go.ke, inaccessible for the better part of Saturday, with visitors instead encountering a defaced homepage carrying the hackers’ demands and messages directed at President Ruto.
The attackers instructed the government to pay the ransom in Bitcoin, claiming they had gained access to sensitive information and would make it public if their demands were ignored. However, there was no independent verification that the hackers had obtained confidential government data.
The official website, president.go.ke, was defaced, with its usual content replaced by messages targeting President William Ruto.
The incident is the latest in a series of cyberattacks targeting Kenyan government websites and disrupting official online platforms.
By 1 pm, the website displayed a notice indicating it was undergoing maintenance, suggesting that efforts were underway to restore the platform.
State House had not issued an official statement on the alleged cyberattack by the time of publication.
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The latest breach comes nearly three years after the government confirmed that the eCitizen platform had been targeted by a cyberattack in 2023.
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Speaking during an interview on Spice FM at the time, then Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo acknowledged the attack, saying cyber threats had become increasingly common around the world.
“Oh yes! To me that was not strange because cyber-attacks are predominant world over,” Owalo said.
He explained that the attackers attempted to overwhelm the system by flooding it with an unusually high volume of requests, thereby slowing the platform’s performance.
“They tried jamming the system by making more than ordinary requests into the system. It started by slowing down the system, and we addressed it,” he said.
Owalo maintained that the attackers did not gain access to government data and that no information was lost during the incident.
He added that the government had strengthened security measures to protect the platform from future cyber threats and established a team to monitor global cybersecurity trends and enhance Kenya’s cyber defense capabilities.
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