Kenya reported 840.9 million cyber threats between October and December 2024, marking a 27.2 per cent increase from the 657.8 million threats detected in the previous quarter, according to new data from the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA).
The surge was largely attributed to system vulnerabilities, which accounted for 752.4 million cases, reflecting a 28.9 per cent rise. Malware incidents also increased slightly to 33.9 million.
However, the most significant spike was in Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, which surged by 727 per cent, rising from 1.8 million cases in the first quarter to 15 million by December. Web application attacks grew from 3.5 million to 4.5 million, while mobile app attacks rose from 117,661 to 138,175.
The report also highlighted a shift in mobile phone usage, with smartphone adoption rising to 80.5 per cent, while feature phone usage dropped to 59.3 per cent.
CA attributed the trend to expanding mobile broadband networks, which now cover 97 per cent of the population, and the increased availability and affordability of smartphones.
Mobile (SIM) subscriptions grew by 2 per cent, up from the 1.6 per cent recorded in the previous quarter. The festive season drove active SIM cards to 71.4 million, pushing the penetration rate to 138.5 per cent.
Safaricom maintained its dominance in the mobile service market with a 65.2 per cent share, followed by Airtel at 30.1 per cent and Telkom at 1.6 per cent.
Meanwhile, mobile money services, including M-Pesa and Airtel Money, recorded a 4.1 per cent growth, reaching 42.3 million users and pushing the penetration rate to 82.1 per cent.
