ICT Secretary Eliud Owalo (left) with Dagorretti South MP John Kiarie and other government officials at City Market, Nairobi to launch a free internet WiFi Hotspot at to facilitate digital commerce on November 9, 2022. PHOTO | LUCY WANJIRU | NMG
Tech experts have asked the government to accompany the ongoing free Wi-Fi with a cybersecurity awareness drill to protect wananchi from threats as the State plans 25,000 public hotspots across the country.
Without cyber safety training, they have warned, the project could hand hackers a new window to pounce on unsuspecting users.
According to multinational software company Symantec, over 60 percent of consumers believe their information is safe while using public Wi-Fi and are completely unaware of existential risks they are exposed to.
Dangers inherent in free hotspots include malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks among others and have been on a sharp rise in recent years as the country’s online commerce steadily grows.
Last week, Equity Bank released a dispatch to its customers asking them to up their vigilance and not to share their personal data while transacting online. This came against a background of a week-long trolling of the lender on social networks, with customers raisingthe alarm over rising frequency of complaints raised against the bank.
This comes at a time when the State has opened the search for contractors to build a multi-billion shilling digital superhighway that includes installation of 25,000 free Wi-Fi hotspots across the country.
The digital superhighway, which is being billed by the Kenya Kwanza government as an enabler to infinite opportunities including e-commerce, will also involve the layin of 100,000 kilometres of fibre cable countrywide.
The Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) says in tender documents that the contractors will also establish 1,450 digital village smart hubs and studios, meaning one per ward in Kenya.
The authority says the project will deliver reliable, stable and affordable, high-speed internet connectivity across the country, to help in facilitating government services such as application of identity cards and value-added tax (VAT) collection while also spurring economic activities.
“The implementation of this infrastructure project aims to ease communication across counties as well as improve government service delivery to the citizens such as application of national identity cards, passports and registration of birth and death certificates,” says ICTA in tender documents.
“The digital superhighway will also play a critical role in enabling us to make the tremendous achievement of health, agriculture, MSME and financing as well in enhancing revenue collection via automation of VAT systems.”
Provision of free or subsidised internet looks set to put pressure on the margins of businesses such as cybercafés and providers of mobile and home internet services such as Safaricom and Airtel Kenya.
Tender document shows that the fibre optic cable extension and the public Wi-Fi will cover sites across eight regions in the country . The three-year contract has been divided into eight lots—Central and Nairobi, Coast, Eastern North-Eastern, North Rift Valley, South Rift Valley, Nyanza and Western—with each firm limited to bidding for just one of the slots.
Technology experts, however, warn that unless a proper cybersecurity sensitisation campaign is carried out, the digital superhighway project may open room to online theft.
The use of weak passwords while using public Wi-Fi or accessing an encryption-free connection can allow hackers to monitor all the traffic that is sent between the user and the server.
During the three months to September last year, the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) reported cybercrimes and related threats as having increased 199 percent to 278 million with small firms reporting the highest number of incidents.
Anthony Muiyuro, the president of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Kenyan Chapter, notes that without adequately equipping people with safety skills, the envisioned outcome of the government’s efforts will not be realised.
“Many people are not able to differentiate between authentic and fake access points. The government needs to create public awareness about such issues first,” states Muiyuro.
Chief Business Development Officer at Poa Internet Dirk-Jan Koeman likens using free hotspots to having conversations in public.
“In reality, using public Wi-Fi is like having a conversation in a public place: other people can ‘hear’ it. The information is not encrypted, so anyone on the same network can see what another user is doing,” states Koeman.
“This makes users vulnerable, with hackers able to gain access to users’ ATM or M-PESA pin codes, mobile banking login details, email and social media credentials and passwords, or personal details such as their date of birth, and even their personal relationships,” he adds.
Harrison Njuguna who works as a flower vendor in Nairobi’s City Market, which was the first facility to get the free installation last year, calls on the government to follow up the internet provision with user training to ensure optimal uptake.
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