Africa CYBER Defense FORUM

28/08/2026

The battlefield has changed, no tanks, no borders just code.

When geopolitical tensions spike, cyber threats travel faster than breaking news. The recent Israel-Iran-U.S. conflict showed how quickly digital danger spills across regions and why nations like the UAE invested heavily in cyber readiness.

Now, those hard-won lessons are coming to Nairobi with José Luis Carrera Jr., a governance and internal audit leader with 20+ years building digital resilience across multinational organizations and GCC critical infrastructure.

During an interactive session on Beyond Borders: Data Sovereignty, Digital Resilience, and National Security in an Era of Regional Instability José will break down how African governments, banks, telecoms, and cloud providers can build digital armor that actually works when crisis hits.

Secure your spot at https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/product/cyboma-pass

14/08/2026

https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/product/cyboma-pass/Prof. Washington Yotto Ochieng, CBE, EBS, CEng, FREng, FCGI opens ACDF 2026 with the invoice Africa's cyber ambitions haven't yet faced and a hefty price tag on sovereignty

On the morning of 4 November 2026, at 9:30 AM, the 7th Africa Cyber Defense Forum opens with an audit.

Prof. Washington Yotto Ochieng, Kenyan-born Head of Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Imperial College London, Director of the Institute for Security Science and Technology, Chartered Engineer, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and holder of Kenya's Order of the Burning Spear, takes the stage at Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Nairobi to deliver our opening keynote: What Sovereignty Actually Costs: The Bill Behind the Ambition.

It is a deliberately unromantic address where Prof. Ochieng puts real numbers to a conversation the continent has mostly had in the abstract. The budgets sovereignty demands, the institutions it requires, the talent pipelines it can't function without, and the political will that has to outlast a single election cycle or funding round.

Cyber sovereignty sounds inevitable when you say it on a panel but reads a lot more like a decision when you see the invoice.

Before two days of solutions, strategy, and showcase, we start with honesty about the price because a vision no one has costed is not a plan; and this year's theme, Africa's Cyber Sovereignty: From Vision to Action in a Fragmented World, only means something if we're willing to name what "action" actually requires.

Secure your seat: https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/product/cyboma-pass/

10/08/2026

Is Your SOC a Dashboard or a Doctrine?

Most SOCs fail before the first alert ever fires, not from bad tools, but from missing charters, undefined escalation paths and detection logic built on guesswork instead of threat intelligence.

At ACDF 2026, Marvin Ngoma, CISSP, GSOM, Elastic Certified SIEM Analyst, and veteran of engagements across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will lead a 2-day intensive workshop on building a Security Operations Centre (SOC) that actually holds up. The workshop will cover everything SOC-related from governance and telemetry strategy to detection engineering, hypothesis-driven investigation and AI-augmented operations.

You'll leave with a SOC charter, an escalation matrix, an incident response playbook, a KPI framework, and a phased 90-day/12-month capability roadmap. This is knowledge that you can put to work the moment you're back at your desk.

📍 ACDF 2026 • Nairobi • 2–3 November

Seats are limited seats. Secure yours now.

https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/events/2026-2/acdf/workshops/building-operating-a-modern-soc/

05/08/2026

🥂 Daakyi Consulting, is writing the toast at ACDF 2026

There's a moment at every gala dinner right before the room goes quiet and someone raises a glass. That's the moment DAAKYI Consulting chose to sponsor.

We're proud to announce DAAKYI Consulting as the official Gala Dinner Sponsor for ACDF 2026, hosting the evening of 3 November, a night where the conversations turn into the relationships that will outlast the Forum.

What are you most looking forward to toasting at ACDF this year? Tell us below.

28/07/2026

The countdown ends NOW. 🇰🇪

Online Qualifications for Cyberlympics Kenya 2026 go live August 14–15.

Got the skills? Prove it. Two days. One shot. National glory on the line.

🔗 Register: https://cyberlympics.africa/countries/kenya/2026-2/cyberlympics/

Tag your duo. Tag your rival. Tag everyone who'd regret missing this.

26/07/2026

Master the Complete DFIR Lifecycle with a Global Leader.

In an era where speed is critical, do you know the exact order to follow to handle evidence to ensure it stands up in court?

Robinson Tombari Sibe, PhD, Forbes Technology Council Member, Professor of Practice, and the 2025 Cybersecurity Personality of the Year, is hosting a limited-seat, hands-on workshop at the 7th Africa Cyber Defense Forum (ACDF) in Nairobi.

Over two intensive days (2–3 November), participants will:
• Build Skills: Master core forensic disciplines with live demos and hands-on exercises.
• Test Skills: Tackle a complex multi-layer cyber incident using real tools.
• Deliver: Write and present a forensic report to the room.

This is a rare opportunity to learn from a veteran who has worked with law enforcement, military, and financial institutions across the globe.

Secure your spot for the pre-conference workshop.

https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/events/2026-2/acdf/workshops/dfir-in-action-from-evidence-to-incident-report/

07/07/2026

🇰🇪 Official Partnership Announcement 🇰🇪

The National Computer and Cybercrimes Coordination Committee (NC4) joins the 7th Africa Cyber Defense Forum as the Official Government Partner.

Kenya's national cyber authority stands beside Africa's premier cybersecurity gathering proudly proclaiming: Digital Sovereignty isn't a Side Conversation, it's State Business.

Together, we are setting the terms for how Africa defends its digital future.

29/06/2026

Breach Brief #1: Eight Ministries, One Morning, Zero Warning

On the morning of 17 November 2025, Kenyans trying to reach Interior, Health, Education, ICT, Labour, Environment and Tourism government websites found something else waiting for them. Those website including State House, Immigration, the DCI, and the Hustler Fund portal were all down or altered and their pages replaced with neo-Nazi slogans.

A group calling itself PCP@Kenya claimed responsibility. This was a breach of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, the Kenya Information and Communications Act, and the Data Protection Act.

No sensitive data was confirmed lost. What the incident actually exposed was how much of government's public face now runs on infrastructure that wasn't built to withstand a coordinated hit. Although services were restored within hours. The underlying gap won't close that fast.

This is the exact pattern ACDF exists to interrupt. Not just bigger cybersecurity budgets, but the incident response playbooks, cross-agency coordination, and public-sector resilience that turn "we got defaced for six hours" into "we never went down."

This is the kind of incident our public-sector and critical infrastructure resilience sessions are built around. Join us in Nairobi from 2–6 November for ACDF 2026.

Grab your CyBoma Pass before they run out. https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/product/cyboma-pass/

25/06/2026

Registration for the 7th Africa Cyber Defense Forum (ACDF) is officially OPEN!

𖡡 Nairobi, Kenya • 🗒 2–6 Nov 2026

Theme: Africa’s Cyber Sovereignty: From Vision to Action in a Fragmented World.

Join the continent's top cybersecurity minds, policymakers, and innovators for a week of high-stakes discussions, elite networking, and actionable insights.

Here is what to expect:
🔐 Nov 2-3: Pre-conference Workshops
🥂 Nov 3: Exclusive Gala Dinner at Entim Sidai Wellness Sanctuary
🏆 Nov 4: Cyberlympics Kenya Finals at Mövenpick Hotel & Residences Nairobi
🗣️ Nov 4-5: Main Plenary Sessions at Mövenpick Hotel
⛳ Nov 6: ACDF Golf Tournament

Be the one to shape the future of Africa's cyberspace. Spots are limited, so secure your delegate pass today!

🔗 Register now: https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/product/cyboma-pass/

05/01/2026

Happy new year 🎊!

Business Series Uganda 🇺🇬 is an event that brings together financial sector leaders from Uganda, East Africa and across the continent to share real-world lessons on combating Cyber Fraud and Threat Intelligence in the Financial Sector on Thursday 27 March 2026.

As we endeavour to curate a memorable meeting of minds, we have selected Golden Tulip Canaan Kampala as the ideal venue for this event. Hotel Golden Tulip Canaan Kampala is renown for modern comfort, exceptional services and breath-taking views of Kampala's skyline, attributes that synergise seamlessly with the calibre of events we host.

Are you ready to enlighten Uganda's financial industry on best practices and intelligence-sharing models around Cyber Fraud and Threat Intelligence in the Financial Sector?

Register on https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/events/2026-2/acdf-business-series-uganda/register/

Register for ACDF Business Series Uganda 2026