Kenya Power issues statement on hacked systems, advise customers on how to buy tokens

Kenya Power has apparently been hijacked by a Sudanese hacking group that has targeted important government websites over the last three days.

On Thursday, July 27, Anonymous Sudan announced that they had successfully hacked the utility’s computers, halting vital services.

We have independently confirmed that the utility’s electrical tokens system was unavailable, however Kenya Power officials denied knowledge of the attack.

“Transaction failed, M-PESA cannot complete payment of Ksh100.00 to KPLC PREPAID. The Organization’s system receiving the payment experienced some technical challenges, try again later,” read the message while trying to purchase tokens.

The attack comes after similar ones on other critical infrastructure. Kenya Power officials however denied that their system had been hacked.

“This is not true,” Kenya Power corporate communication officer Immaculate Karambu stated.

The hacker group claimed responsibility for the attack through their Telegram channel, just hours after ICT Secretary Eliud Owalo assured Kenyans over the recent spate of cyber attacks from the Sudanese hacker group.

“Some of our operations, we have attacked the Kenya Power and Lighting Company and we will continue to attack more. Everyone thinks that all our attacks are Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) but we managed to get access to all the backend,” the group posted.

CS Owalo assured Kenyans that while there were attempts to hack government institutions and services including the eCitizen portal, no data had been compromised.

However, the company has since come out to issue statement on the same.

Taking to their social media pages, Kenya Power acknowledged that their systems are down and are currently working with a service provider to restore the service.

“Customers can purchase tokens from our banking halls, Airtel Money and authorized banks,” KPLC advised Kenyans.

CUSTOMER ALERT 🔴 pic.twitter.com/zPEinTpEuV

— The Kenya Power & Lighting Company Plc. (@KenyaPower) July 27, 2023