Cyber Resilience & Critical Response : United Nations Humanitarian Initiative, Kenya
The United Nations Humanitarian Logistics Hub (UNHLH), a critical operational backbone for aid distribution across East Africa, faced a severe and sophisticated cyber-attack in mid-2024. This incident, suspected to be state-sponsored, targeted their data infrastructure supporting vital supply chains, threatening to disrupt the delivery of essential resources to millions in need across the region, including Kenya. The attack manifested as a highly evasive data exfiltration attempt, coupled with subtle system manipulations designed to sow chaos and distrust.
Recognizing the immense humanitarian implications and the advanced nature of the threat, the United Nations Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), leveraging its existing partnership frameworks, urgently engaged Sava Cyber Technologies. The immediate objective was to conduct a rapid, on-site incident response and forensic analysis, followed by comprehensive remediation and the establishment of a robust, long-term cyber resilience strategy for the UNHLH operations based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Sava Cyber Technologies initiated an immediate rapid response in Nairobi. The initial phase involved an intensive, on-the-ground assessment, utilizing advanced digital forensics techniques to trace the attack's origins, methodology, and scope. This critical phase leveraged my unique expertise in in-person mission readiness and forensic capabilities honed through specialized training, allowing for effective operation in a complex and sensitive environment.
Following the forensic deep-dive, Sava Cyber Technologies collaborated closely with UNHLH's local IT personnel and UN OICT leadership. The project plan focused on:
Phase 1: Emergency Containment & Eradication: Rapidly isolating affected systems, neutralizing active threats, and preventing further data compromise. This included deploying advanced threat hunting techniques.
Phase 2: Comprehensive Digital Forensics: Meticulously analyzing compromised systems to reconstruct the attack timeline, identify vulnerabilities exploited, and gather actionable intelligence on the adversary. This involved secure evidence collection and analysis in a live operational setting.
Phase 3: System Recovery & Hardening: Restoring affected services securely, patching identified vulnerabilities, and implementing immediate security enhancements to prevent recurrence.
Phase 4: Strategic Resilience Building: Developing and implementing a long-term cybersecurity roadmap, including enhanced network segmentation, advanced endpoint detection and response (EDR), robust identity and access management (IAM), and tailored security awareness training for local and international staff. This phase incorporated insights from my doctoral research on Global Cyber Resilience Strategies for Critical Infrastructure in partnership with the United Nations.
Phase 5: Knowledge Transfer & Capacity Building: Empowering the UNHLH's internal personnel with the skills and processes necessary for sustained cyber defense, fostering local expertise and self-sufficiency.
Throughout the mission, Sava Cyber Technologies navigated the complexities of international operational protocols and diverse local infrastructure, demonstrating unparalleled adaptability and discretion. My direct involvement ensured a strategic oversight that integrated high-level geopolitical understanding with granular technical execution.
Outcome:
Through Sava Cyber Technologies' swift and decisive intervention, the data exfiltration attempt was contained, critical supply chain disruptions were minimized, and humanitarian aid delivery resumed with minimal delay. The forensic findings provided invaluable intelligence to UN OICT for broader threat awareness. More importantly, the engagement resulted in a significantly hardened security posture for the UNHLH in Kenya, establishing a resilient framework designed to withstand future sophisticated attacks.
Sava Cyber Technologies continues to serve as a trusted advisor to the United Nations on select high-stakes cybersecurity initiatives, demonstrating its commitment to global digital security and humanitarian protection.