Cyberhackers and Kenya 2022

17/2/2023

The Ruto campaign hacking allegations, which became public on 15th February, were initially followed up in many media outlets around the world. It also notable that Odinga, the day before, made reference to "hiring ethical hackers" which may have been an attempt to pre-empt the story he knew was about to break:

As the original Haaretz site is behind a partial paywall (I could read it initially, but now cannot), other links include:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/15/political-aides-hacked-by-team-jorge-in-run-up-to-kenyan-election
https://www.occrp.org/en/storykillers/hacks-bots-and-blackmail-how-secret-cyber-mercenaries-disrupt-elections

Some feedback from Dennis Itumbi, one of the Ruto campaigners targeted:
https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/realtime/2023-02-16-this-is-how-israeli-hackers-accessed-my-account-itumbi/

Kenyan responses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ODvN60afVU
https://ntvkenya.co.ke/news/how-israeli-hacker-accessed-rutos-election-strategists-phone/
https://www.pd.co.ke/news/kenya-kwanza-turns-heat-on-raila-over-hacking-claims-169707/

Lots of sound and fury, not a lot of new substance yet.

But follow-on reports are missing from the 17 and 18 Feb press, also unexpected and interesting.

3 Comments

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Kasyoki

18/7/2023 12:55:20 pm

Would love to hear any thoughts regarding the ongoing protests in Kenya. The (distributed) July 12 edition seemed to rattle the government, apparently prompting a Kenya Kwanza PG meeting at State House on July 15 (in which Ruto rallied his troops to counter Azimio protests in their counties/constituencies), numerous internal security meetings etc.

I'm wondering whether cost of living/finance act is purely the factor at play, or whether there's also significant anti-Ruto/Rigathi sentiment. I know people still harboring post-election bitterness, seemingly exacerbated by lack of magnanimity from the Kenya Kwanza leadership.

Ruto came in with about 32% of the total registered votes (vs 43%, 42% for Uhuru prior). A substantial section of Mt Kenya (25% of registered voters) might have been purely anti-Raila than pro-Ruto in 2022, and therefore liable to turning against him. To me this implies real possibility of a national popularity rating as low as 25% for Ruto, as much as he has the parliamentary majority (after raiding Azimio).

18/7/2023 12:58:58 pm

I'm also curious regarding what motivated your PhD studies on African Politics 😀. I've just read your biography, and it seems like you had not spent much time (if any) on the African continent by the time you graduated in 1986.

18/7/2023 01:00:30 pm

Also, why the keen interest in Kenya, in particular

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Cyberhackers and Kenya 2022

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