Hacking of E-Citizen to Affect Visa Issuance – Foreign Affairs Ministry
Foreign Affairs Ministry says hacking of the e-citizen platform will affect the issuance of visas.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the ministry asked airlines to onboard travelers destined for Kenya.
The ministry also announced that travelers will be issued visas upon arrival at all entry points.
“The Ministry of Foreign and Diaspora Affairs avails itself of this opportunity to renew to all Diplomatic Missions and International Organizations in Kenya the assurances of its highest consideration,” it said.
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This comes moments after Information, Communication and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary Eliud Owalo confirmed that there was a cyber-attack on the platform.
“Oh yes! To me that was not strange because cyber-attacks are predominant the world over,” Owalo told Spice FM on Thursday.
“There was an attack. We are addressing that, we are not just coming up with instant remedial measures to address the current situation, we will build an elaborate risk mitigation framework,” he added.
“They tried jamming the system by making more than ordinary requests into the system. It started by slowing down the system and we address it.”
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He said no data was accessed by the hackers, and none was lost.
Owalo said such incidents call for the need for continued digitization of services, and should not hinder the country’s progress in adopting advanced technological solutions.
He said the Ministry has taken measures to safeguard the platform from any potential data breaches in the future.
He said the government has formed a multifaceted team responsible for proactively monitoring global cyber security trends.