Cyber café operators targeted in new battle against online crime

ICT Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang’i. (Photo:Standard)

By Frankline Sunday

Nairobi, Kenya: Owners of cyber cafes could soon be required to keep tabs on their clients as the Government steps up the war against cybercrime in the country.

According to Cabinet Secretary   for ICT, Fred Matiang’i, cyber cafes have grown to be a major threat by facilitating cyber crime in the country.

“Cyber cafes are a big problem in the country because many acts of cyber crime have been traced back to public cyber cafes and when we ask operators who has used a particular machine at a particular time, they are often not in a position to provide this information,” he explained.

Dr Matiang’i stated that it was time owners and operators of cyber cafés in the country took responsibility for acts of insecurity perpetrated on their premises using their systems.

Matiang’i was speaking at the opening of a three-day Common  Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) conference that brings together ICT ministries, information security experts and technology companies from the 17 member-state regional bloc.

Hate messages

The meeting comes amid escalating cases of ATM and credit card fraud, online impersonation, defamation and online hate messages that have forced the Government to re-evaluate its ICT policies.

Recent figures released by the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology state that Kenya is losing nearly Sh2 billion annually to cyber crime.

The public nature of cyber cafes has made them prime breeding grounds for acts of cyber crime, particularly within urban areas where perpetrators are allowed to walk in and out undetected.

At the national cyber security forum held in May this year, the Communications Commission of Kenya, (CCK) said it was considering compelling cyber café owners to install CCTV cameras on their premises as part of the measures to curb rising cases of hate speech on social media.

New policies

These recommendations are, however, yet to be implemented, with the Government saying it would first resort to dialogue with the operators before any new policies are enforced.

“We do not want to make this process forceful so we are talking to business owners first to reach an understanding in the common goal of securing users against cyber crime,” said Matiang’i.

There are concerns that the Government could introduce information and communication policies that would be an infringement on people’s rights and freedoms.

“We are not taking away people’s right to privacy or access to information but we believe that in recent events of insecurity, a balance between privacy and security must be achieved,” he said. 

Speaking at the same event, Hesham Ali, Microsoft’s services solutions lead in charge of Middle East and Africa, said many companies do not fully appreciate how exposed they are to cyber crime until it is too late.