A man has been arraigned in court and charged with gaining unauthorized access to protected systems contrary to section 84(f) of the Kenya information and communication Act No.1 of 2009.
Patrick Gachie Gatuma was charged that he accessed Safaricom App using a laptop and a mobile phone make Infinix with Safaricom subscriber number 0725 013 663 which surged the Safaricom systems with 24,258,730 queries which was not normal based on the historical data in contravention of the provision of the said Act.
Gatuma who is an employee of the Kenya Railway is alleged to have committed the offence between 24th April and 30th April 2018 at an unknown place within Kenya unlawfully and with intent to defraud.
According to a police report, on 24th April 2018, there was an escalation of high number of name search requests amounting to over 2 million.
The report further indicated that the accused had allegedly placed a total of 24,258,730 queries between 24th and 30 April 2018.
He denied the charges before a Nairobi Chief Magistrate Francis Andayi who granted the accused bond to secure his release.
Apparently, only 5 queries are authorised per day per person are only 5, thus the stated queries were inappropriate, amounted to hacking, hence the court appearance.
The suspect was traced to Kenya Railways offices, Nairobi and his national ID and phone confiscated on 2nd May 2018 during his arrest but was releases on police cash bail.
He led the police to his rented house in Kwa Chief area within Kahawa West, Nairobi, where a laptop was also taken.
The police say the bulky logs cannot be printed but will be made available by the time he turns up for trial and will be displayed electronically by Safaricom experts.
He was released on a bond of Sh 500,000 or a cash bail of Sh 300,000. The case will be heard on 2nd July 2018 at City Court.
