Russian hacking groups have predominantly targeted Western or West-aligned countries and governments, seemingly avoiding any attacks within Russia itself.
During the Wagner mutiny in June, a group expressed its support for the Kremlin, stating that they didn't focus on Russian affairs but wanted to repay Russia for the support they received during a similar incident in their country.
The attack on Kenya involved a Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS), a well-known method used by hackers to flood online services with traffic, aiming to overload the system and cause it to go offline. This method was also used by Anonymous Sudan during their attack on Microsoft services in June.
According to Joe Tidy, who conducted an interview, it is difficult to ascertain the true identity of the group responsible for the attack.
Kenya's Information Minister revealed that the attackers attempted to jam the system by generating more than ordinary requests, gradually slowing down the system. Fortunately, no data exfiltration occurred, which would have been highly embarrassing.
Kenya had a reasonably strong cybersecurity infrastructure, ranking 51st out of 182 countries on the UN ITU's Cybersecurity Commitment Index.
However, the extensive impact of the attack demonstrated the risks of relying heavily on digital technology for critical economic functions without adequately prioritizing cybersecurity. Cybersecurity and digital development should go hand-in-hand, a lesson applicable to many African countries.
