The total number of reported online crimes almost doubled to 3.5 billion in 2024, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) 2025 Economic Survey shows.
The number of reported cyberattacks has increased progressively from 139.9 million in 2020, 339 million in 2021, 700 million in 2022 and 1.744 billion in 2023.System vulnerabilities accounted for 3.27 billion of the reported cybercrimes in 2024, while web attacks increased from 386, 067 in 2023 to 8.4 million in 2024.During the period, KNBS also reported brute force attacks-127.8 million-and mobile application attacks-526, 362-for the first time.
The total number of cybersecurity advisories increased by 48.1% to 39 million in 2024, with advisories about malware more than doubling from 1.09 million to 2.5 million.
Advisories about website application attacks grew more than threefold, from 3.9 million in 2023 to more than 13.6 million in 2024. Conversely, advisories related to system vulnerabilities declined by 11.3% while those for botnet/DDoS attacks dropped by 28% in 2024.
High internet and mobile devices penetration in Kenya faciltates the attacks currently witnessed in the country.
During the second quarter 2024/25 financial year, mobile data subscriptions grew by 3.2% to 56.1 million of which 78.4% were on mobile broadband. Online activities such as streaming movies, online learning, remote work, and among others have accelerated demand for high-speed internet leading to increased uptake of higher generation mobile technologies as is the case of 4G and 5G.
Mobile broadband volume consumed during the reference period increased by 12.8% to 568,315.8 Terabytes. Consequently, the average mobile broadband consumption per mobile broadband subscription increased from 12.6 GB to 13.1 GB.
Mobile phone devices connected to mobile networks maintained an upward trend to post 72.0 million translating to penetration rate of 139.8%. Notably, smart phones maintained an upward trend at a penetration rate of 80.5% while feature phones dropped to 59.3%.
The rapid uptake in smartphones is attributable to the increased expansion of mobile broadband networks across the country that currently stands at 97.0% population coverage. Increased availability and affordability of smartphones coupled with increased demand for access to digital services have significantly boosted smartphone penetration.