Government official confirms cyber attack on Kenya as critical Mpesa and government services crippled: Is Sudan the source of the trouble?

Even as the critical Mpesa payment system as well as several government services were down, or suffered major disruptions throughout the day causing great concern amongst Kenyans, a government cabinet secretary has made remarks that have resulted in even more alarm and suspicion that the country's key facilities may indeed be under some sort of cyber attack.

Eliud Owalo, Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communication, and Digital Economy was quoted as saying the e-Citizen platform (one of the key government departments affected) has indeed been hacked. This has had the immediate impact of affecting visa services to those coming to Kenya. The foreign ministry has already issued a statement advising those coming into the country to expect the visas at the point of entry into Kenya.

"Yes, there was a hack on the eCitizen platform, and we are working to fix it. They attempted to jam the system by sending it more unusual queries. No data has, however, been accessed or misplaced, according to Owalo, who spoke earlier today to Spice FM.

Owalo says that the hackers attempted to breach into the system after first slowing it down but were unsuccessful.

Recently, the government updated the e-Citizen service to include more than 5,000 services from more than 100 ministries, State departments, and county governments.

Initial indications are that the disruptions will have a major impact on an already struggling economy as payments to and from banks via Mpesa are down. Details are scanty on the magnitude of losses Kenya's leading telco has taken from this disruption.

Interestingly Kenyans are speculating that the hack may be linked to war torn Sudan where accusations have emerged in recent times claiming that Kenya is supporting one of the warring factions even as President Ruto leads the peace initiatives in the region. Read the alarming accusations against President Ruto and his private dealing and international power broking made in a viral video by a leader of one of the factions in the Sudan conflict.

The Sudanese warlord that 

viral video linked to Ruto

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Read the Sudan link story; Sudanese army man reveals Ruto private cash deals and international power broking moves in recent times in viral video

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Those who saw Hussein Mohamed during his distinguished career as a Citizen TV journalist may be excused for feeling pity for him watching his body language a few hours ago as he fielded a question about Raila's claim that President Ruto invited the Tanzanian president to Kenya to mediate talks between him and Raila Odinga, only to snub her. President Samia Suluhu Hassan then left the country after two nights at a Nairobi hotel waiting in vain. 

Mohamed started off laughing nervously when the question was posed. He then followed it up with his shifty answer which hardly made sense.

Read full story: State house response to Ruto snubbing Tanzanian president

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In just a handful of days, what happened in Nyalenda, Kisumu recently has moved from being highly sensitive to the Ruto government to something being discussed openly. And surprisingly, the international media and community are suddenly leading the discussions and showing great concern.

Raila Odinga in a press conference with the international press in Nairobi yesterday even went on to use the phrase “ethnic cleansing” and made comparisons with similar happenings from the past from all over the world. 

Read Chris Kumekucha full article