There is an alarming shortage of Cyber Security professionals. Not just in Kenya but globally. One of the reasons for this is that the monetary gain in taking the path of an ethical hacker pales in comparison to that of blackhat related activities.

To address this, governments and top corporate are revising the remuneration for such roles in a big way. 

Furthermore, we have the likes of Cisco who are developing new curriculum to address this shortage. In fact they have granted a $10M scholarship program to develop security professionals. I am one of the beneficiaries. 

For those asking about what complex crimes need to be fought - let me assure you that there is a very high chance that all of your connected devices is currently compromised. If not all of them. Don't wait for a skull and some text written in bold green to pop up on your screen to notify you that you have been hacked. That is not the level at which it is done nowadays. Your antivirus is also not going to help much - they work on a reactionary basis meaning that you get an update once a "new" vulnerability is discovered.

I think that these funds are being drawn from the USF because the government is currently running low on funds, it would at least be a good thing for them to state this clearly if this is the case.

What is important is that we need to recognise and applaud the importance of this move by the President. It makes little sense to want to get more and more people online without having a strong framework through which you can protect them, or at least provide a means of helping them to investigate and prosecute these people that are usually very keen to have a fresh supply of cyber victims. I will be following this one keenly.

Regards,

Kevin

On 4 February 2018 at 00:30, Odhiambo Washington via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

I am of the opinion (sorry, there must be a better word, but the wine in my head has locked it out from access!) that the problem starts and ends with the USFAC - Universal Service Fund Advisory Council or whatever that moribund thing is called. It's been in office since Matiang'i was CS ICT till now. How many years are those?

This forum has always called for the use of the USF for certain purposes. I remember Collins Areba once gave out very compelling reasons on where the USF should come into play. It's several years since and the USFAC have just been sitting on their laurels.

It is time that AC is disbanded. I hope they don't draw any salaries or allowances for being in that AC, because if they do, they need to refund every single enny they've drawn for "doing nothing".

And we must strongly come out and tell Uhuru Kenyatta that the USF is not subject to his directives. I must say that him having appointed some guy called Kinoti to be DCI, who owes allegiance to him, does not augur well with his DIRECTIVE. That is corruption and I am not willing to listen to "jameni, mnataka nifanye nini?" with my taxes!

USF must be used for what it was conceived for, not for CID Forensics Lab, which is built by Administration after Administration.

One wishes for the days of Bitange Ndemo's tenure at the ICT Ministry, because even a fly could raise an issue and Ndemo would engage.

This error or Mucheru where opacity rules is chocking!

The bottom line though is that presidential directives constitute an abuse of the USF when there is an Advisory Council.

That moribund Advisory Council need to GO, a new one constituted and USF applied only on improving access to telecommunications for the citizens, not funding the DCI, which should have a budget, just like the military have a budget. The DCI have a budget for their operations and it's not supposed to be drawn from the USF. That is THEFT.

On 3 February 2018 at 16:41, Admin CampusCiti <info@campusciti.com> wrote:

Washington

Nature abhors a vacuum. This list has time and again consistently reminded the CA and the USF to spend the money as it was meant to. Swathes of the country are still without connectivity and we still print out quarterly fiction about connectivity statistics.

On this the President is right. What he is basically saying is that if you can’t find a way to spend the money I will show you how to! 

:-)

Ili we funzo kwa the upcoming DG... :-)

Ali Hussein

Hussein & Associates

+254 0713 601113 

Twitter: @AliHKassim

Skype: abu-jomo

LinkedIn: http://ke.linkedin.com/in/alihkassim

Blog: www.alyhussein.com

"Discovery consists in seeing what everyone else has seen and thinking what no one else has thought".  ~ Albert Szent-Györgyi

Sent from my iPad

On 3 Feb 2018, at 1:04 PM, Odhiambo Washington via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

This 1B for the DCI for "complex" crimes directive is just the beginning!

With Wangusi OUT (blocked from resuming office despite a court order) and the Fatcats now in control, I can see the whole of the USF account being depleted in no time, and without any part of it going for infrastructure improvement or anything that it was intended for.

I remember a recent media article where the Ministry of ICT had requested CA to fund the presidential inauguration to the tune of KES 25m when there was actually a budget for the inauguration, which the article cited as some of the possible reasons Wangusi is being hounded out of office, because he declined the request despite CA sitting on billions in USF!

Now that such a directive is out, and will possibly be executed with haste, my question is: 

1. Does the law allow the president to give directives to CA??

2. Does the law allow the president (or the Minister) to give directives on where.how the USF should be used?

3. Whom does the law give the mandate to decide on the USF??

For starters, the independence of the CA is OVER!!!

 

On 2 February 2018 at 16:52, Sidney Ochieng via kictanet <kictanet@lists.kictanet.or.ke> wrote:

One billion shillings from Communications Authority universal service fund to be allocated to DCI, to boost fight against cyber-crime, 'and more complex crimes with which today Kenyans must contend.'. - Uhuru at IG Conference.

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilCu3Ch1mXk

Is this legal? Is this what the fund is for?

--

Regards,

Sidney

Twitter: @princelySid | Web: sidneyochieng.co.ke Skype: sidney.ochieng | Github: princelySid

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