Chinese Hackers Infiltrate Kenyan Government: What You Need to Know

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🇨🇳🧑🏻‍💻 Chinese Hackers Infiltrate Kenyan Government: What You Need to Know

What Happened: In an attempt to acquire information on debt owed to Beijing by Kenya, Chinese hackers allegedly infiltrated key ministries and state institutions of Kenya over a period of several years of frequent online attacks. Notably, Kenya is part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, where it used over $9 billion in Chinese loans for various infrastructure projects.

The Hacking: The campaign spanned three years from late 2019 to 2022, and specifically targeted eight ministries and government departments in Kenya, including the presidential office.

🚩 One such attack began with a Kenyan government employee unknowingly downloading an infected document, granting hackers access to sensitive government networks.

🔎 According to intelligence analyst reports from 2021, Kenya's National Intelligence Service appears to have been breached to gather information on Kenya's plans to repay its debts. In late 2019, was China concerned that its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) loans would be defaulted on due to a yet-to-be-announced COVID-19, which would eventually shock the world?

China’s Response: China’s foreign ministry said it was “not aware” of any such hacking, while China’s embassy in Britain called the accusations “baseless”, adding that Beijing opposes and combats “cyberattacks and theft in all their forms.” Further adding:

Kenya’s Response: Kenya’s presidential office is adamant that it had been targeted by “frequent infiltration attempts” from not just Chinese, but also American and European hackers.

Click here for the exclusive Reuters report on this.