News
Monthly selection of cyber news
December 2020, issue 9
Kazakhstan News
8 December
Phishing attacks in Kazakhstan increase by 83%
The State Technical Service has reported that the Computer Incident Response Service identified and processed 1,453 information security incidents in November 2020, which include an 83% increase in phishing attacks and 93% increase in detected malware compared to 2019.
11 December
The number of attacks via the remote access protocol in Kazakhstan tripled
This year, in its “Remote Working - History of the Year” report, Kaspersky Lab noted that RDP protocol attacks had almost tripled to 16.6 million from the same period in 2019.
12 December
Kazakhstan users have problems accessing Google services
Kazakhstan users are experiencing problems accessing Google services, such as Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, Google Keep and Play Market. The reasons for this have not yet been given, but the Google Workspace service accessibility panel shows an outage icon for almost all services, including maps, analytics and application designers.
20 December
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla again block the Kazakhstan security certificate
Apple, Google, Microsoft and Mozilla have announced that they had been forced to ban the Kazakhstan root certificate (security certificate) in their browsers, which can be used to intercept and decrypt HTTPS traffic. In early December, cyber training was launched in Nur-Sultan, during which the public was again strongly recommended to install the certificate to retain Internet resource access.
28 December
Cryptographic viruses attack computers in Kazakhstan
KZ-CERT experts have warned that these types of information security incidents lead to a complete shutdown of corporate business processes directly related to corporate information resources. It is possible that in some cases, confidential commercial and financial information relating to corporate operations and financial activities may have been leaked. Experts stressed that the situation had been caused by a negligent attitude to information security issues to ensure the safety and integrity of data stored in their information systems.
Caspian news
2 December
A first joint high-tech park with Turkey to be established in Karabakh
The Turkish GOSB Technopark, which is one of the largest industrial regions of Turkey, supporting 130 technology companies, and the Azerbaijan Innovation Agency have signed a memorandum on “Cultural and Scientific Cooperation” to open technology parks and innovation centres in the Karabakh region.
9 December
Presentation of the new Tmchat messenger held in Turkmenistan
Turkmentelecom announced the launch of the first national e-mail Sanly.tm and the Tmchat messenger at an exhibition dedicated to the 25th anniversary of Turkmenistan's neutrality and hosted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Ashgabat, CentralAsia reports.
14 December
Cybercriminals trick people by creating fake Azerpocht websites
The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Technology’s Electronic Security Service is warning the public about fake Azerpocht websites being opened to obtain funds illegally. The fraudsters’ target is anyone selling products on online shopping pages. Posing as buyers, they write to the sellers from fake WhatsApp numbers and ask them to enter their card details on a fake Azerpocht site, after which account funds fall into the hands of the cyber-fraudsters.
15 December
A single platform for the mutual recognition of electronic signatures can be created in Azerbaijan
A single platform for the mutual recognition of e-signatures used in Azerbaijan can be created, Arif Mayilov, Head of the National Certification Services Centre on a “Smart Projects” webinar organised by the Information Computing Centre as part of “Innovation Week”.
16 December
Social networks began to spread false information, purportedly on behalf of the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Technology, about an Internet shutdown in the western regions of Azerbaijan from 00:00 on 16 December. The Ministry has since posted a warning that the information is fake.
The number of cyber-attacks increases in Azerbaijan
In its 2020 “Remote Work - Story of the Year” report, Kaspersky noted that remote work RDP attacks had almost tripled to 2.2 million in Azerbaijan between January and November.
21 December
Kazakhstan proposes Uzbekistan use Kazsat
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan plan to create a joint venture to provide satellite communication and broadcasting services in Uzbekistan. The issue was discussed in Nur-Sultan during a meeting between Bagdat Musin, Kazakhstan Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry, and Shukhrat Kadirov, Acting General Director of the Agency for Space Research and Technologies, “Kursiv” reports.
22 December
E-signature use on the Internet and in mobile banking to be made fully available
Legislative measures have been taken to ensure e-signature use in Azerbaijan is in line with best international practices. This is reflected in "Azerbaijan economic and social development concept and forecasts for 2021 and the next 3 years".
Azerbaijan's state cloud provider to switch to full commercial operations
AzInTelecom, a cloud provider operating under the Azerbaijan Ministry of Transport, Communications and Technology, is due to be fully commercialised in 2021 Q1. The statement came from Farrukh Farajullayev, AzInTelecom's leading cloud product specialist, speaking at the company’s “One-off solution to data loss through back-ups” webinar.
24 December
Azerbaijani IT companies to enter global markets
Global market access will be provided to companies operating in the field of innovation in Azerbaijan, as well as technopark residents reporting to the Innovation Agency, which has said that full membership to the Agency's Association of Scientific Parks and Innovations will play an exceptional role in achieving this goal. This is the reason why the Agency has received IASP certification.
Russian news
7 December
Experts explain what to expect from cyber fraudsters in 2021
Device infection will be less random or have non-random consequences in 2021, Kaspersky Lab experts have said. Attackers involved in mass infection will resell access to computers to groups focused on industrial enterprises. We should also expect new scenarios for attacks on industrial devices, as well as new monetisation mechanisms.
8 December
Experts believe the main targets in 2021 will be remote and cloud systems
Home networks, remote software and cloud systems will be the top targets for attacks in 2021, Trend Micro Incorporated predicts. In a post-pandemic world, the remote working trend is likely to continue in many organisations, it went on to say. With ever more aggressive corporate data and network attacks, IT security services will be forced to redouble their efforts to educate users and expand their threat detection and response capabilities.
10 December
Experts talk about the cyber risks of working remotely
According to Kaspersky Lab, between January and November 2020, cyber-attacks via the remote work RDP protocol more than tripled in Russia from the same period last year to 174 million.
17 December
Experts: 44% of businesses work to protect digital technologies
To combat cyber threats to the industrial Internet of Things, employees of IT departments are not enough, it is also necessary to connect security specialists, according to the report of Kaspersky Lab. According to the company's research, in 2020, 44% of enterprises have cybersecurity departments working on initiatives to protect digital operating technologies.
23 December
Research: Entertainment industry most often subjected to DDoS attacks in 2020
Russian entertainment, telecommunications and online retail companies were most often subjected to DDoS attacks in 2020, according to StormWall, accounting for 40.76% (entertainment), 29.27% (telecommunications) and 11.94% (online retail). Construction (6.26%), finance (4.56%), education (3.61%) and service (2.58%) companies were also affected.
24 December
Fraudsters defraud the public out of 150 billion Roubles during the year
The number of mobile communication-related crimes in Russia has increased by almost 100% since the beginning of the year, and by more than 90% over the Internet, according to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
28 December
Fraudsters develop a new mechanism for stealing data from bank customers
According to the Russian Agricultural Bank, the pandemic has contributed to a surge in cyber fraud, such as phishing, which attackers use to gain access to confidential user data and bank accounts.
Previous issues
Previous issues | November 2020, issue 8
Previous issues | September 2020, issue 6
Previous issues | August 2020, issue 5
Previous issues | July 2020, issue 4
Previous issues | June 2020, issue 3
Previous issues | May 2020, issue 2
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