The cyberattacks on government networks in 2018 were over three times more than in 2017 when the country recorded 880mn such attacks.

While over 900mn attacks specifically targeting government websites were successfully prevented in 2018, which was also several times more than 2017 when such attacks were 1.41mn, according to the Information Technology Authority's (ITA) Annual Report 2017.

According to the United Nations eGovernment Survey 2018, Oman is among the top ten best countriesin cybersecurity globally, second in the Online Service Index among the Arab region and 63 worldwide.

ITA's two main divisions focus on cybersecurity: Information Security Division (ISD), which is responsible for the security of government entities, and the Oman Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT), which is responsible for the security of cyberspace in Oman.

ISD, which provides networks and portals protection, secure Internet access, end-point security, information security operations, security assessment and IT security consultancies, rendered 2,632,006,039 cyberattacks useless against government networks while it thwarted 901,569,883 cyberattacks against government websites and 1,726,990,120 attempts against Oman's private space.

ITA further detected, prevented and analysed 872 spyware (1,859 spyware in 2017) and 4,051 (11,370 in 2017) viruses.

It further said that 100 per cent of 192 known security incidents were detected within 20 minutes and closed, while 93.8 per cent security incidents were solved and closed within five business days.

OCERT, which addresses the issues of cyberthreats and risks and the provision of a secured cyber environment in using eServices and protection of critical national information infrastructure, discovered and handled 432,978 real cybersecurity attempted attacks (44,340 in 2017) and 71,472 web attacks.

In addition, 203 malware infections through OCERT intelligence gathering system were thwarted. OCERT also handled 140 digital forensics cases with 828 evidence devices including computers, mobile phones, external hard disk and USBs.