According to a recent report, the 2022 campaign of President William Ruto's advisors was the focus of a carefully orchestrated hacking effort.

PHOTO | COURTESY Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga at a past event

The Guardian, a UK-based daily, said on Wednesday that the hacking attempts, which started in July 2022 and only received directions from Deputy President William Ruto's campaign, gained access to Telegram and Gmail channels.

An investigation conducted by a group of more than 100 foreign investigative journalists was in the report.

Emails and private chats of Energy Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir and digital strategist Dennis Itumbi, then Ruto's chief of staff, were accessible to Israeli hackers.

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Israeli national and former military operator Tal Hanan led an international disinformation effort aimed at elections, including those in African nations.


PHOTO | COURTESY President William Ruto

According to the Guardian, the operation manager was Hanan, who goes by the alias "Jorge," originating from a commercial area 20 kilometres north of Tel Aviv, the capital of Israel.

He is said to have boasted to the undercover reporters about his ability to damage elections and spread false information.

Days before Kenya's 2022 elections, he demonstrated his skills by showing how he could utilize hacking methods to snoop on political advisers' messages, according to The Guardian.

The Guardian said that Hanan never clearly stated during his encounters with the undercover journalists that he had been paid to work in Kenya or disclosed who his client was (s).

The Guardian stated that Hanan "appeared to show them "live" demos of hacks targeting three aides close to Ruto, who was a presidential contender at the time," when showcasing Team Jorge's capabilities to the journalists who were masquerading as potential clients.

One presentation appeared to be an intrusion into Gmail, and another focused on accounts on Telegram.

Messages are there to trick hackers.

Itumbi stated that there was more activity on his Telegram near the end of the campaign season in response to the recent discoveries.

However, he pointed out that the effort tricked hackers by using a few Telegram groups.

Together with another two individuals, we formed a group to deceive those attempting to gain information illegally. We posed as agents and claimed that their presence was unneeded and that the exercise was expensive. We've even decided against choosing agents," Itumbi remarked.

According to Itumbi, they now "know the hackers believed our contrived discussion" as a result of the exposé.

PHOTO | COURTESY Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga shake hands outside Statehouse

Such accusations of attempts at election meddling in Kenya's elections have happened.

2018 saw the revelation by Channel 4 News, another UK-based media outlet, of Cambridge Analytica's interference in the 2017 Kenyan elections.

The Jubilee Party, led by William Ruto and former president Uhuru Kenyatta, won the election.