Hackers Take Over President Ruto’s Website and Demand Bitcoin

Hackers briefly took control of Kenyan President William Ruto’s official website on Saturday, 18 July 2026, replacing its normal homepage with hostile messages and a demand for five Bitcoin.

The affected website, president.go.ke, is the official online portal of Kenya’s presidency. It publishes presidential speeches, government announcements, photographs and information about State House activities.

What happened to President Ruto’s website?

People visiting the website on Saturday morning found that its homepage had been defaced. This means the normal content was replaced with material posted without government permission.

The attackers displayed a cryptocurrency wallet address and demanded five Bitcoin. Based on the exchange rate cited by Kenyan media on Saturday, the ransom was worth approximately KSh41.3 million, although Bitcoin’s value changes constantly.

The hackers also threatened to publish unspecified information if the government failed to pay by a stated deadline. However, they did not publicly provide verified evidence that they had obtained sensitive government files.

Kenyan government confirms cybersecurity incident

Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Information, Communications and the Digital Economy, William Kabogo, confirmed that cybersecurity teams were responding.

The ICT Authority activated its incident-response procedures and temporarily restricted access to the website. This allowed investigators to contain the incident, conduct a forensic examination and begin restoring the portal.

The government said preliminary investigations had found no evidence that sensitive data was accessed, removed or lost. Other government systems and digital services were said to be operating normally.