Sudanese Hackers Disrupt Kenya's e-Visa Applications
Foreign Affairs Ministry PS Korir Sing'Oei indicated technical issues though it comes after ICT CS, Eliud Owalo assured Kenyans that the government was working to address the hacking incidents affecting government websites.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has cautioned foreigners travelling to Kenya regarding challenges affecting electronic visa applications and processing, which could be linked to a recent wave of cyber attacks by a hacker group from Sudan.
In a statement on Thursday, July 27, Foreign Affairs Ministry PS Korir Sing'Oei indicated technical issues though it comes after ICT CS, Eliud Owalo assured Kenyans that the government was working to address the hacking incidents affecting government websites.
"The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Kenyan presents its compliments to all Diplomatic Missions and International Organizations in Kenya and has the honour to inform that there is currently a challenge in the Government e-citizen platform, which is impacting the processing of e-visa.
President William Ruto and Foreign Affairs PS, Abraham Korir Sing'oei, during a past event. /TWITTER
"Therefore, travellers will be issued a visa upon arrival at all entry points to Kenya. The Government also wishes to advise all airlines to onboard travellers destined for Kenya," Sing'Oei stated in part.
The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs of the Republic of Kenya added that it avails itself of the opportunity to renew to all Diplomatic Missions and International Organizations in Kenya the assurances of its highest consideration.
The e-Visa application is hosted on the E-Citizen platform, which is among the government websites allegedly under attack by the group, Anonymous Sudan.
Statements earlier posted by Sudan Annonymous claimed that the move to target the Kenyan websites was motivated by their protest against Kenya's alleged interference with the country's affairs, though the group did not substantiate how Kenya was meddling with the affairs of Sudan.
Government websites offering services to Kenyans like e-Citizen and NTSA have been experiencing downtimes since Monday, July 24, affecting applications and renewal of Driving Licences, birth certificates, business registrations, marriage certificates, passports, and certificates of good conduct among others.
CS Owalo, who spoke during an interview with Spice FM, confirmed that the attack took place but asserted that it would not prevent the government from digitizing all its records and services as planned by President William Ruto.
"Yes, and to me that is not strange because cyber attacks are predominant the world over. We cannot stop digitizing our records and services because we are risk-averse. What we need to put in place is an elaborate risk-mitigation framework which we are ready for anyway.
"There was an attack, we are addressing that, we are not just coming up with instant remedy of measures to address the current situation, we are ensuring that around this digitization space, we are building an elaborate risk-mitigation framework for purposes of sustainable digitization," the CS explained.
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