President’s official website restored hours after being taken over by hackers
By Francis Muli, July 19, 2026The official presidential website, https://www.president.go.ke/, has been restored nearly 24 hours after it was taken offline following a cyberattack that saw hackers deface the homepage and demand a ransom in Bitcoin.
A spot check on Sunday, July 19, 2026, showed that the president.go.ke website was once again accessible, with the homepage, presidential speeches, press releases and other official content back online. However, the platform was not yet functioning optimally, with several images and visual elements still missing from some pages, suggesting restoration efforts were still underway.
The website was compromised on Saturday, July 18, 2026, after hackers replaced the homepage with unauthorised messages targeting the president and demanded five Bitcoins, estimated at about Ksh41 million, in exchange for relinquishing control of the site and withholding the release of what they claimed was sensitive information.
Information, Communications and the Digital Economy Cabinet Secretary William Kabogo confirmed the breach, saying the government had temporarily restricted public access to facilitate containment, forensic investigations and restoration.
Kabogo maintained that there was no evidence of unauthorised access to sensitive government information or data loss, adding that the shutdown was a precautionary measure while cybersecurity teams responded to the incident.
Head of Presidential Special Projects and Creative Economy Coordination Dennis Itumbi also announced that the presidential website had been restored, sharing the update on his official X account after the platform returned online.
The cyberattack raised fresh concerns over the security of Kenya’s government digital infrastructure, with authorities yet to disclose how the attackers gained access to the presidential website or whether investigations into the breach have been concluded.
While the website is once again accessible, some pages continue to display missing images and incomplete visual formatting, indicating that technical teams are still working to fully restore the platform.