President Ruto’s Official Website Hacked as Attackers Demand Ransom

The official website of President William Ruto was on Saturday compromised by cybercriminals who defaced its homepage with threatening messages directed at the Head of State while demanding payment in Bitcoin to prevent the release of what they claimed was sensitive information.

A check on the presidential website, president.go.ke, showed that the normal government content had been replaced with unauthorized messages containing insults directed at President Ruto, a cryptocurrency wallet address and a ransom demand.

The incident temporarily disrupted access to the official communication platform, which ordinarily publishes presidential speeches, statements and government announcements.

The apparent cyberattack marks the latest security breach targeting Kenyan government digital infrastructure, coming just weeks after several government websites, including the Presidency portal, were reportedly affected by coordinated cyberattacks that authorities said had been contained.

“This message is the third time for you; before we leak everything about you. Do a payment of 5 bitcoins to the Bitcoin wallet if you want peace before 6 o’clock this evening,” read part of the message displayed by the attackers on the compromised homepage.

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State House Confirms Cyber Incident

In a brief statement issued to journalists on Saturday, July 18, State House confirmed that it was aware of the cyberattack.

“Our technical teams had already begun working to restore the website and investigate the incident,” Statehouse stated.

State House indicated that its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) personnel were handling the matter, although officials did not immediately disclose how the attackers gained access to the website, whether government systems beyond the public-facing website had been compromised, or whether any sensitive government data had been affected.

The attackers also modified the website’s banner, replacing official visuals with a message referencing individuals identified only as, “Glenn, Myerr, Ebby & Nevin.”

The identities of those mentioned remain unknown, and no individual or hacking group had publicly claimed responsibility for the attack by Saturday afternoon.

Website defacements do not necessarily indicate that confidential government databases have been breached.

In many cases, attackers exploit vulnerabilities in web servers or content management systems to alter the appearance of websites without gaining access to secure internal government networks.

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Latest in Series of Cyberattacks

The breach comes against the backdrop of growing concerns over cybersecurity within Kenya’s public sector following several attacks targeting government institutions in recent years.

In November 2025, multiple Kenyan government websites, including the Presidency’s portal, the Ministries of Interior, Health, Education, Energy and Labour, were simultaneously hacked in a coordinated cyberattack.

The affected websites were temporarily rendered inaccessible after attackers replaced official pages with extremist messages and “Access denied” notices.

Authorities later attributed the attack to a group identifying itself as PCP@Kenya, saying the systems were subsequently restored following government incident response measures.

During that incident, Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo assured Kenyans that government cybersecurity teams had contained the breach and warned that those responsible would face prosecution under the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, the Kenya Information and Communications Act and the Data Protection Act.

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An illustration photo from Cyber Management Alliance. PHOTO/ File