In today’s fast paced world, most people are tech-savvy, preferring to use tech-driven options for their day-to-day transactions.
From paying for your salon appointment, depositing money in your bank account, to booking your next flight, everything is at your fingertips.
Saccos have, over the past few decades, migrated into offering digital services which make access easier and more convenient for members.
However, the transition for many saccos is a double-edged sword, as digital products are highly attractive to cyber criminals.
According to the Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Co-operatives (KUSCCO), Kenya saw a 202% spike in cyber threats in Q1 2025.
To address some of these challenges, Coretec Solutions Africa was founded in 2003, with the purpose of enabling Saccos and other financial service providers to access technology.
As technology continued to evolve, so did Coretec’s offerings, until they noticed that cyberattacks were catching up with them.
The challenge was that they didn’t have a buffer.
“We didn’t have proper detection issues, so we were more reactive to issues. So something happens, you did not detect it. It probably even started maybe a few months back, or it has even taken a year for an attack maybe to be to be planned. Still, you had no idea,” said Cyrus Yidah, Chief Executive Officer at Coretec Solutions Africa.
To address these challenges, Coretec Solutions onboarded Safaricom’s Managed Security Operations Centre (MSOC) services.
The MSOC empowers enterprises to detect, prevent, and respond to threats in real time.
“Since we onboarded to MSOC, I can say we are now proactive, because through that service, we can, you know, detect, we are able to monitor anything happening within our environment and within our platforms. And yes, these threats are still there, these incidents are still happening, but now we can detect them and respond to them in a very short while,” said Cyrus.
While implementing security measures against cyberattacks reduces them, players in the technology space still need to remain on high alert.
Also, as technology evolves, businesses need to empower themselves with the right cyber defence mechanisms to stay afloat.
