Strengthening Kenya’s national cybersecurity capabilities has received a boost with the launch of the SecureKE Sovereign Security Operations Centre, says Eng. John Kipchumba Tanui, principal secretary for the State Department for Information, Communications Technology and digital Economy.The facility was developed through—and is hosted at Konza Technopolis, the country’s flagship smart city and gazetted Special Economic Zone located about 65 kilometres southeast of Nairobi.Escalating threat levels demand urgent, coordinated action, with 4.56 billion cyber threat events detected in late 2025 and reported banking cyber-fraud losses reaching 1.9 billion Kenyan shillings ($14.6 million), alongside growing ransomware, phishing and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled threats.Not every institution can afford its own security operations centre, says Tanui. SecureKE enables a shared capability for government institutions and private-sector organisations, combining continuous monitoring, AI-supported threat detection, incident investigation, vulnerability management and coordinated response.“Its sovereign infrastructure also strengthens our ability to manage sensitive security operations locally, with appropriate data governance and access controls, and it complements Kenya’s Cloud First approach,” says Tanui.ITWeb Africa previously reported that the Konza Technopolis Development Authority signed a collaboration agreement with Amazon Web Services to drive cloud adoption, digital skills development and infrastructure deployment across the East African nation.This work is being reinforced at the institutional level. The National Cybersecurity Agency, which is currently being established, will provide national coordination by bringing together institutions, capabilities and response efforts under a clear framework.“A strong digital economy must be built on trust, resilience and security. We cannot build a digital economy without securing the infrastructure, systems and data on which it depends,” says Tanui.Institutional leaders must make cybersecurity a priority in planning, governance and resource allocation by identifying critical systems, assessing vulnerabilities, strengthening monitoring and incident response, and complying with data protection requirements, says Tanui.“Through the Digital Superhighway, we continue to expand connectivity and digitise public services. Millions of Kenyans now access government services through eCitizen, and the country recorded 58.5 million mobile data subscriptions by mid-2025. But every system we connect also creates potential cyber risk,” says Tanui.Cybersecurity is not only an ICT concern, but a national security priority, an economic imperative and a responsibility of institutional leadership, says Tanui.
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