The Kenyan government has launched an investigation into a cybersecurity incident that affected the official website of President William Ruto, temporarily restricting public access as authorities work to determine the cause of the attack and restore the platform.
The incident was disclosed on Saturday, July 18, 2026, by Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, William Kabogo Gitau, through an official government statement.
According to the ministry, the country’s ICT Authority activated its cybersecurity incident response protocols immediately after detecting the incident. Access to the presidential website was temporarily restricted to support containment measures, forensic investigations and restoration efforts.
The ministry said mitigation measures have already been implemented and restoration of the website is ongoing, adding that there is currently no evidence of unauthorised access to sensitive information, data exfiltration or loss of government data. It also stressed that government digital services and other critical systems remain secure and operational.
Checks by TechMedia Africa on Saturday showed that the presidential website was unavailable and displayed a maintenance page with the message:
“We will be back Soon.”
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Kenya’s cyber threats continue to surge
The incident comes amid a sharp rise in cyber threats targeting Kenya, one of Africa’s most digitally connected economies.
TechMedia Africa previously reported that Kenya recorded approximately 4.6 billion cyber threat events during the final quarter of 2025, representing a 441.3 per cent increase compared to the previous quarter.
Among the fastest-growing threats were Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks, which surged more than eleven-fold to 58.3 million incidents. DDoS attacks overwhelm servers or networks with massive volumes of internet traffic, disrupting online services. The growing adoption of artificial intelligence has further increased the sophistication of these attacks, allowing cybercriminals to automate reconnaissance, adapt attack methods in real time and better evade detection.
The country also witnessed significant increases in system vulnerabilities, mobile application attacks, brute-force attacks and malware infections during the same period, highlighting the rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape.
In just three months between April and June 2025, Kenya also lost an estimated KES 29.9 billion (about US$230 million) to cybercrime, underscoring the growing economic impact of digital attacks.
Government launches forensic investigation
In its statement, the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Digital Economy said authorities are conducting a comprehensive investigation to establish exactly what happened.
- “ICT Authority is working closely with the relevant Government agencies and technical partners to conduct a comprehensive forensic investigation and establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.”
- The ministry added that “appropriate mitigation measures have since been implemented, and restoration of the website is underway,” while maintaining that there is “no evidence of unauthorized access to sensitive data, data exfiltration, or loss of information.”
Authorities said investigations remain ongoing and further updates will be provided as more information becomes available.
