Viral Reports of JKUAT Portal Breach ‘Completely False’, University Says
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) has firmly rejected widespread social media reports alleging that its student portal was hacked, resulting in the deletion of fee balances and academic records.
The claims circulated over the weekend after students reported that their portals were either inaccessible or displaying missing information. Some users on X (formerly Twitter) speculated that the university’s systems had been breached, with others claiming their fee statements had been wiped clean.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, December 9, Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academics, Prof. Robert Kinyua, dismissed the allegations as “false and misleading,” insisting that the institution experienced a temporary outage caused by scheduled maintenance rather than a cyberattack.
“JKUAT has noted with much concern recent misinformation circulating on social media claiming that the JKUAT Student Portal has been hacked. This information is false,” Prof. Kinyua stated.
He added that the university’s digital infrastructure remained intact throughout the outage:
“All University systems and portals remain secure, and all student records and data are safe. The temporary outage experienced on the Student Portal, which has since been resolved, resulted from a scheduled system upgrade.”
According to Prof. Kinyua, the maintenance work was necessary to integrate the student household fee component, a requirement under the government’s new higher education funding model. He stressed that no alterations, deletions, or compromises had affected student data.
“We reassure all our students and stakeholders that no data or records have been affected in any way,” he affirmed.
The clarification followed mounting concerns from students who reported issues beginning on Saturday, December 6. For three consecutive days, several portals showed missing academic records or empty fee balances, sparking speculation that the system had been compromised.
While some students believed hackers had accessed and cleared sensitive information, others suggested the outage could be linked to heavy system activity during ongoing examination registrations.
By Tuesday morning, normal service had resumed, with students confirming that their academic details and fee balances were fully restored. The resolution effectively brought an end to the rumours, though the incident highlighted how quickly misinformation can spread during periods of digital disruption.
JKUAT urged students to rely on official university communication channels to avoid confusion stemming from unverified online claims.
Viral Reports of JKUAT Portal Breach ‘Completely False’, University Says