Uganda turns to cloud-based firewalls amid rising cybersecurity risks

The government is accelerating deployment of cloud-based cybersecurity systems across ministries, departments and local governments as concerns grow over weak digital protections within Uganda’s rapidly expanding online public services infrastructure.

Officials at the National Information Technology Authority-Uganda say many public institutions are still operating without proper firewall protection despite handling sensitive citizen information and financial systems.

The growing vulnerabilities have pushed government and technology partners to promote “Firewall as a Service” (FWaaS), a cloud-based cybersecurity model that allows institutions to access shared digital protection without investing in expensive hardware infrastructure.

Mr Richard Obita, Director of Technical Services at NITA-U, said the move comes as government continues integrating public services through the National Backbone Infrastructure, which connects ministries, departments, agencies and local governments digitally.

“As government continues digitising services for the benefit of citizens, there is need to enhance the security of the network so that government operates in a secure environment,” Mr Obita said.

He revealed that some district local governments admitted during recent engagements that they had no firewall protection at all.

“Some of them were saying no, they do not have firewalls,” he said.

“They can now leverage on the government firewall. It cuts costs because government already adopted a strategy to rationalise resources. We do not have to duplicate efforts,” he added.

Under the new model, institutions access cybersecurity protection through software hosted within central government systems instead of purchasing standalone physical hardware.

Officials say the arrangement significantly reduces costs linked to procurement, installation, cooling systems and maintenance, challenges that many districts with limited ICT budgets have struggled to manage.

“The beauty with it is that it is a cloud-based cybersecurity solution,” Mr Obita said.

“Entities do not have to buy hardware. We simply give them a firewall, more or less a software firewall,” he added.

Government says the expansion of integrated digital services has increased urgency around cybersecurity because systems handling identity verification, banking, health records and financial transactions are becoming increasingly interconnected.

“When an organisation goes to a bank, what they normally ask you for is your basic information, national ID, and that data is with NITA-U,” Mr Obita said.

“By just showing your national ID, systems can pull the information instead of filling forms and lining up for services,” he added.

Cybersecurity experts warn that greater system integration also increases exposure to cyber attacks.

Ms Elizabeth Namanya, a network engineer at Spidd Africa, said cybersecurity has become central to Uganda’s digital transformation agenda.

“Cybersecurity is no longer optional,” Ms Namanya said.

“With digital transformation, firewall as a service gives enterprise-grade protection for government services without the burden of managing complex infrastructure,” she added.

Spidd Africa partnered with NITA-U and Palo Alto Networks to support implementation of the firewall service.

Ms Namanya said many institutions previously lacked the technical capacity and resources to deploy advanced cybersecurity tools independently.

Cybersecurity specialists also warned that attacks targeting government systems are becoming more sophisticated.

Mr Titus Gateri, a systems engineer and cybersecurity architect at Palo Alto Networks, said attackers are increasingly exploiting ordinary internet functions such as Domain Name System (DNS) traffic to infiltrate systems and steal data unnoticed.

“What attackers know is that DNS is running in every organisation and nobody is inspecting it,” Mr Gateri said.

“Someone can be sitting in Russia, Kenya or anywhere issuing instructions to your machines through DNS traffic,” he added.

He cited a case in Kenya where attackers allegedly exfiltrated sensitive email data by disguising the transfers as normal DNS requests over a weekend.

“About 20 to 30 gigabytes of DNS traffic were moving from an email server,” he said.

“On inspection, it turned out attackers were breaking down email databases into small pieces and sending them out disguised as DNS requests,” he added.

Experts say traditional hardware-based security systems are increasingly becoming expensive and slow to deploy because of shipping delays, customs clearance and infrastructure requirements.

“With physical appliances, you have to worry about shipping, customs, cooling and cabling,” Mr Gateri said.

“Now you go to the data portal, click and have your firewall in about 20 minutes,” he added.

Officials also warned that emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing could create even more complex cybersecurity threats in the coming years.

Mr Gateri said some cybercriminals are already adopting a “harvest and wait” strategy in which encrypted data is stolen and stored in anticipation of future computing technologies capable of breaking current encryption systems.

As Uganda continues shifting government services online, officials say strengthening cybersecurity protections will become critical to maintaining public trust and safeguarding sensitive national systems.