The mutating cyber-threats

It’s about time for governments to make cybersecurity an attractive career for the youth. Following the introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation, Kenya has had the data protection bill signed into law which is very crucial for tech investments.

There is certainly good reason for the government to be kept abreast of global threats and how to mitigate against them. The nature of attacks is rapidly changing. However, data breaches no longer need to be spearheaded by highly skilled hackers. Hacking software and malware placed on the dark-net make it easy for amateur hackers to orchestrate massive destruction adding into the complexities of fighting cybercrime.

RECENT CASES;

·        In June, several Kenyan government websites running on the Unix-based FreeBSD operating system were hacked.

·        Safaricom was equally hacked by an amateur where Kenyans were “rewarded” millions of shillings in data bundles and airtime.

·        In July, an attack in Bulgaria shuddered the world; five million of the total of seven million citizens lost access to their financial data in an incursion that was reported to have compromised nearly every adult’s private records.

·        In Georgia, on October 28 more than 2,000 websites including those of the president, courts and the media were hacked in a massive cyber-attack.

WHERE SOLUTIONS LIE;

You need technology to improve the quality of life but your efforts can be rendered useless when malicious people use it to cause harm.

As the world transforms into a hyper-connected Internet of Things (IoT) landscape where billions of devices will be interconnected and zillions of confidential data stored in servers, it is time governments invested in capacity building for cybersecurity experts!

Resource the youths now to guard against cybercrime. Equip our labs and engage nations with more robust cybersecurity protocols.