The government has admitted to suffering an unprecedented loss of confidential data to unknown hackers who compromised servers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
On Thursday, ICT Cabinet Secretary Joe Mucheru confirmed the hacking stating that: “They were able to access some of the documents. But most of the documents are classified open. They never got any classified documents”.
Among the documents reportedly leaked are email conversations between senior diplomats at the Ministry and regional leaders, communication on security issues, international trade agreements and letters discussing security in South Sudan.
The cyber attackers obtained a status report on the conflict between Sudan and South Sudan detailing an event when the Kenya Air Force was called in to rescue Kenyans caught up in the chaos. Also in the document is updates from the ministry’s department tasked with Horn of Africa affairs and on negotiations between Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir.
There was also a report that outlined discussions with countries pushing to have Sudan and South Sudan sign a peace deal, and an incident when President Uhuru Kenyatta suggested that the two warring nations sign a power-sharing agreement early in February last year but which Dr Machar rejected.
Also accessed by the hackers is a document on a request by the US Embassy in Nairobi asking the ministry to facilitate clearance of a security detail for President Barrack Obama’s visit last year.
A set of email reports from Kenyan diplomats in Juba, updating officials on the situation when South Sudan went through civil war from 2013 were leaked.
Other documents are updates from the Kenyan embassy in Oman which was charged with organising the repatriation of Kenyans stuck in Yemen when the conflict there escalated.
One document, from last year August, contains a warning to ministry staff of hacking attempts using phishing techniques containing links to malware.
The cyber criminals have so far published 95 documets that cannot be read using standard Web browsers but can be viewed using Tor Onion browser.
Most of the documents published are routine correspondence between Kenyan foreign ministry officials and other diplomatic missions, requests from protocol officials to arrange for receiving dignitaries in Nairobi, conversations with trade partners and international companies around the world.
The hackers identified as 'Anonymous' expressed that they had obtained from the Kenyan Government 1 Terabyte of data which they would be publishing in bits.
The ICT Cabinet Secretary revealed that the hackers managed to access government information by duping Ministry staff into clicking on compromised links requiring them to change their passwords.
Read Also: Minister Reveals How Government Was Hacked
