from MARIA MACHARIA in Nairobi, Kenya
Kenya Bureau
NAIROBI, (CAJ News) – KASPERSKY reports a worsening cyber threat landscape in Kenya.
The company reports blocking 8,4 million web attacks between January and September in 2025.
It reported 27 percent of all users and 16,5 percent of corporate entities faced web-based threats, that included phishing scams, exploits, botnets, Remote Desktop Protocol attacks, and network spoofing such as fake Wi-Fi networks.
In the same period, over 14,2 million on-device attacks were detected, with 31,5 percent of all users and 19 percent of corporate entities faced malware delivered via infected USB drives, CDs, DVDs, and hidden installers, including ransomware, worms, backdoors, trojans, password stealers and spyware.
More detailed statistics by malware types showed over 1 million exploitation attempts stopped in Kenya by Kaspersky solutions in nine months of this year.
The top exploited vulnerabilities included critical vulnerabilities in Microsoft Office and Windows that were reported back in 2017-2018.
Kaspersky solutions also blocked over 518 000 password stealers (a 130-percent increase compared to the same period of last year), as well as 287 000 backdoors (a 35-percent increase), and 252 000 spyware attack attempts (a 115-percent increase).
“Some threats are distributed widely, while others are highly focused,” said Bethwel Opil, Enterprise Client Lead at Kaspersky in Africa.
The official noted for instance, the exploitation of zero-day vulnerabilities was a tactic often employed by sophisticated cybercriminals in ransomware attacks and advanced persistent threats.
“Gaining a clear picture of the local threat landscape is essential: knowing which threats are active in a given region allows you to fine-tune security controls and stay proactively protected,” Opil concluded.
– CAJ News