Only four out of 10 internet users in Kenya give much thought about their privacy online. This is according to a new report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released on Wednesday, September 4.
UNCTAD statistics show that Kenyans have the lowest level of concern for personal data safety in the world standing at 44%.
This could explain alarming reports by the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) in July that about 11.2 million cyberattacks were experienced by Kenyan firms between January and March 2019, a 10% increase from the same period in 2018.
The CA reported that the Kenyan economy is estimated to have lost Ksh29.5 billion to cybercriminals in 2018, which was a 39.5 % increase from Ksh 21.2 billion in 2017.
The authority's cyber intelligence team issued 14,078 cyber threat advisories to the Kenyan organizations in 2018, up from 12,138 alerts during the previous year.
UNCTAD's latest report also revealed that Kenya does not have an effective data protection law, which makes it hard to regulate how data is collected and used in the country, consequently pointing out public education deficiencies that explain the poor rank in concern for data privacy.
This situation was used as the basis by a section of Kenyans to oppose the government's biometric data registration christened Huduma Namba and the August 2019 census exercise.
After cybercriminals, social media platforms have been seen to be the second biggest source of distrust by internet users in regards to data handling.
“Many of these services (internet searches, social media, and online reservations) are offered by various platforms free of charge or on a take-it-or-leave-it basis,” UNCTAD maintains.
In May 2019, a report by Serianu, a tech consultancy company, estimated that Kenya only houses 1,700 skilled cyber-security professionals, with 60 percent of companies facing a shortage alluding to a need for more education, exposure, and adoption.
UNCTAD’s report is based on findings of the 2019 Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust on 25,229 internet users in select 25 countries in the world between December 21, 2018, and February 10, 2019.
