A new report by the National Kenya Computer Incident Response Team or Coordination Centre in Kenya shows that cyber threats shot up 59% due to the increased Internet usage during the pandemic.
The number of active registered mobile money subscriptions at 32.5 million, active mobile money agents rose to 264,390 – with 56.2 million attacks, cyber threats increased sharply to 59 per cent in the last quarter of 2020.
The Centre says it detected 56.2 million threats, up from 35.1 million detected in the previous quarter.
The Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) says the increase was due to “the systematic resumption to normalcy amongst sectors and services that were previously dormant due to the restrictions surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic”
Malware attacks also shot up by 44.7 per cent to 46 million in the quarter to December 2020, CA adds.
The value of mobile money transfers from customers to businesses jumped 33 percent to Sh983 billion in the three months to December 2020, as a bigger size of the economy moved through mobile transactions.
As business activities resumed after the relaxation of Covid-19 prevention protocols, more Kenyans favoured digital means of payment for services. Businesses increased their use of mobile money channels in their inter-transactions.