The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has established a Banking Sector Cybersecurity Operations Centre (BS-SOC) to strengthen defenses against growing cyber threats targeting the financial sector.
The centre, housed under CBK’s Cyber Fusion Unit, will provide critical services including cyber threat intelligence, incident response, digital forensics, and cyber investigations.
It is part of the implementation of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrime (Critical Information Infrastructure and Cybercrime Management) Regulations, 2024, and a key initiative under CBK’s Strategic Plan 2024–2027.
As part of the rollout, CBK is aligning its Commercial Banks Cybersecurity Guidelines of 2017 and the Payment Service Providers Cybersecurity Guidelines of 2019 with the new cybercrime regulations.
In the meantime, all regulated institutions must continue to comply with both sets of requirements and report cybersecurity incidents to the BS-SOC within timelines outlined under the law.
The regulator emphasized that successful implementation of the initiative will depend on close collaboration with banks, payment service providers, and other sector players.
CBK said the centre is expected to bolster resilience against increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks targeting Kenya’s financial system.
