Kenya Leads East Africa in DDoS Attacks, Ranking Third in Africa.
Kenya got hit the hardest in East Africa when it comes to Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in the first half of 2025 – that’s according to NETSCOUT Systems, Inc’s latest report dubbed the Global Threat Intelligence Report. And it’s not a small feat, the country ranked third overall in Africa, behind South Africa and Morocco.
NETSCOUT’s Regional Director for Africa, Bryan Hamman said the Digital landscape in East Africa has changed a lot, & it’s this changing environment that has made threat actors in the region continually adapt their priorities.
Hamman pointed out that the changing tech landscape has seen attackers in the region focus in on specific sectors. He noted that DDoS attackers are constantly coming up with new methods and targets as new digital infrastructure comes into play in places like Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Seychelles, Madagascar, Djibouti, and South Sudan.
DDoS Attacks in Kenya
Kenya was targeted by 46,786 DDoS attacks between January and June 2025 – and the worst hit sectors were:
- Wired telecommunications carriers – 20,349 attacks were launched against them
- Wireless telecommunications carriers – 15,919 attacks were aimed at these providers
- Computer-related services – 8,730 attacks took place in this sector
Other big targets included the financial sector, hotels, and retail outlets. The most complex single attack used an astonishing 23 different techniques and even managed to reach a whopping 78.3 Gbps and 15.49 Mpps.
Uganda & Tanzania See A Drop in Attacks
Uganda actually saw a pretty significant drop in DDoS attacks, down to 881 from a whopping 6,145 attacks in the October to December period last year. And the biggest attack of all, which was aimed at wireless communications providers & computing infrastructure services, peaked at a pretty respectable 119.34 Gbps and 13.22 Mpps.
Tanzania also saw a decrease, from 531 attacks to 326. The biggest targets included computing infrastructure and web hosting services – 94 attacks were launched, with only a few aimed at wireless telecommunications carriers. The largest attack in Tanzania however, only managed to reach 0.47 Gbps and 0.13 Mpps, making use of up to eight different techniques.
Even though Hamman acknowledges that it was a slow period for both Uganda and Tanzania, he still made it clear that threat actors are always paying close attention to vulnerabilities and always looking for new ways to attack.
More Action In Djibouti, Seychelles, Madagascar, and South Sudan
Djibouti actually saw a pretty big spike in attacks – 3,172 compared to just 2,860 in the last quarter of 2024. Most of the attacks were aimed at wireless telecommunications carriers, and Hamman said this is because Djibouti is a major hub of connectivity with ten submarine cables acting as the main gateway for digital communications in East Africa.
Seychelles saw a pretty big jump in attacks too – 674 in total, up from just 386, & the largest of these made use of 88.38 Gbps in a significant escalation from the previous period.
Madagascar saw 368 attacks, with the majority of these being directed at computing infrastructure – 333 to be precise. South Sudan recorded 1,439 attacks – the largest of which was a short-lived attack lasting just eight minutes, which was still powerful enough to manage 3.36 Gbps and used nine techniques. According to Hamman, this kind of short-lived assault may be a test of the system, rather than a serious attempt to cause disruption.
The Telecoms Sector Keeps Getting Hit
Across East Africa, you’d be hard pressed to find a telecom company that hasn’t had to deal with DDoS attacks – either they’ve been targeted a lot or the impact’s been severe. And it’s not just telecoms that are at risk, computer service providers and financial institutions have also seen their fair share of cyber threats.
According to Hamman, these sectors are a big deal – they’re what makes the country’s and region’s infrastructure tick. So when they get knocked offline, it causes a right old kerfuffle. He also pointed out that these multi-vector attacks are a sign of serious and co-ordinated effort by the bad guys.
NETSCOUT confirmed what we’re all seeing: DDoS attacks in East Africa are getting bigger and more sophisticated. They’re telling us that the best way to stay ahead of this is with a constant eye on the situation and some decent defences in place to protect critical infrastructure.
Kenya Leads East Africa in DDoS Attacks, Ranking Third in Africa.
