Six teams feted at CA cyber security boot camp, hackathon series

Six teams were feted during the OCSAM ( October Cyber Security Awareness Month) boot camp and hackathon awards held in Nairobi.

The Nairobi Edition of the CA (Communications Authority of Kenya) cybersecurity boot camp and hackathon series brought together cybersecurity enthusiasts and ethical hackers to compete in various curated challenges in a game format.

They were drawn from different universities and colleges around the country.

The winners for the hackathon category were teams r00t which won the first position, Tech-Mavericks which won the second position and Hackitects which got third place.

Under the boot camp category, Phill Okema, Ryan Chironga and Joshua Manani won first place, Teddy Okatch, Kenneth Munguti, Abdoul-Aziz Maiga won second place while Jeanette Kanyiri, Demas Mong’are and Cliff Kanyi secured third place.

The 2023 series includes a regional and national hackathon championship element, with five regional competitions in Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Nairobi and Nyeri.

A subsequent national competition will be held during the OCSAM annual conference in October.

The boot camp, which is an intense training activity over a short period, covers Huawei Certification e-learning courses on cyber security, virtual lab exercises and mentorship from experts within the field.

The initiative is geared towards preparing participants for a successful career in cybersecurity.

The program builds on last year’s program that led to many of the students getting jobs in different sectors.

The hackathon attracted 600 students out of which 31 were shortlisted to participate in the boot camp while 80 were shortlisted to participate in the hackathon.

The event was also in partnership with Huawei, and the Kenya Cyber Security and Forensics Association.

Chief Officer of Smart Cities under Innovation and Digital Economy Tirus Njoroge said that there is a need to prioritise cybersecurity to protect infrastructure, services and Kenyans' data.

Speaking on behalf of Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, he added that this is especially important now because Kenya, and Nairobi in particular, is a strategic hub and therefore a battleground where competing parties have an interest in gaining an edge.

“The more investment and interest we attract, the bigger a target we become,” Njoroge said.

“It is important that the public sector is at the forefront in empowering business resilience by helping identify, protect, detect, respond and recover from cyberattacks.”

“Close collaboration between bodies such as CA and county governments will go a long way into safeguarding and growing our digital economy.”

CA director of licensing Matano Ndaro who spoke on behalf of CA CEO and DG Ezra Chiloba said the authority believes in nurturing innovations and building capacity through such events.

He said that the hackathon was organised as part of the various activities leading up to this year's OCSAM event.

During this period, jurisdictions across the world bring together actors from public and private sectors to work together to foster initiatives to raise awareness of cyber safety.

This has over the years been achieved through empowering consumers with the knowledge and skills and values to safeguard themselves online.

“I am glad the event attracted participants from the various universities and colleges,” Ndaro said.

“To secure Kenya’s cyberspace, capacity building is key, especially amongst university and college students.”

He also said as more people adopt technology, the risks of cyber attacks have escalated in exponential measure.

“Currently, the most disturbing form of crime is ‘zero-day attack,’ Ndaro said.

According to the ICT sector regulator, in 2018, cyber attacks directed at Kenya stood at 7.7 million.

In 2023, the attacks skyrocketed to a high of 444 million, ranking Kenya among the top three most targeted countries in the region, alongside South Africa and Nigeria.

“We all need to continue working together as we face these many challenges such as cyber extortion, identity theft, impersonation and other forms of online abuse that are now commonplace,” Ndaro said.