IEBC Addresses Reports of Hacking in Its System

IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan
IEBC CEO Marjan Hussein Marjan addressing the Media on August, 5 at Bomas of Kenya
Kenyans.co.ke

The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Hussein Marjan, has dispelled allegations that the Commission's systems was hacked.

Speaking at Bomas of Kenya on Friday, August 12, Marjan maintained that the IEBC systems are very secure and are foolproof to stop any infiltration.

He stated that reports circulating that the systems had been infiltrated by people who wanted to alter the election results being transmitted were false and misleading.

Marjan noted that there have been attempts to compromise the IEBC systems but the electoral agency was ahead of the hackers.

IEBC Commissioners
From left: IEBC vice chair Juliana Cherera, Commissioner Prof Abdi Guliye and IEBC chairman Wafula Chebukati
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"There is misinformation going around that the IEBC portal has been compromised, we assure the country nothing like that has happened," Marjan assured.

"We anticipated that people will try to hack our systems and we put mechanisms to ensure that our systems are secure. Our portal has not been down even for a second."

The Commission also announced more measures to keep the floor of the tallying centre at Bomas safe following a scuffle that was witnessed earlier over a laptop owned by one of the political party's agents.

IEBC Commissioner, Abdi Guliye, stated that presidential agents will be allowed to have a laptop for downloading Forms 34A from the public portal and every agent will have one laptop per desk.

He further directed that the floor will only be accessible to IEBC officials, two party agents, and returning officers.

"We will not allow anybody including agents of presidential candidates to frustrate the effort of trying to comply with our 7-day deadline. We will increase security on the floor of the auditorium if need be," Guliye stated.

These orders came after a standoff at the Bomas of Kenya on Friday, August 12, after Azimio agents raised an alarm over a laptop spotted at the NTC.

Presidential agents from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party and Azimio clashed when the gadget raised suspicion.

Guliye stated that nothing suspicious was found on the laptop.

Journalists were asked to leave the auditorium as IEBC officials led by Guliye retreated for an urgent meeting with the Chief Agents.

The IEBC commissioner also called in security to contain the situation and warned politicians that such acts will not be tolerated.

He also directed politicians who had thronged the National Tallying Centre to leave if they had nothing to do at Bomas, blaming them over the scuffle.

Prof. Abdi Guliye
IEBC Commissioner Prof Abdi Guliye at Bomas of Kenya On August 8,2022.
Kenyans.co.ke
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