(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat -
Over 430,000 cyberattack attempts within the Omani cyberspace were thwarted by the cybersecurity agencies in Oman.
While more than 71,000 cyberattacks against websites were warded off last year. The figures were revealed at the National Cybersecurity drill that started on Monday.
The three-day drill, organised by the Information technology Authority (ITA) and represented by the Oman National CERT, is under way at the Kempinski Hotel, Al Mouj Muscat.
The event is being held under the topic of 'Malware and Dark Web'. Over 72 government entities and critical infrastructure sectors such as banks, utilities, transport, logistics and oil and gas are participating.
The drill aims to evaluate the readiness of cybersecurity response teams of the participating organisations and develop national capabilities and skills in this area.
The drill is a practical simulation of real-world cybersecurity incidents by using simulated scenarios based on the most common security threats and attacks nationally and worldwide. The drill will also discuss several other topics such as cryptocurrency mining malware, phishing attacks, interactive protection simulation and dark web.
In her speech representing ITA, Aziza Sultan al Rashdi, director of Professional Cybersecurity Services, Oman National CERT, highlighted the importance of having the malware and dark web as the main topic of the drill this year.
'The importance of the drill comes as a response to the increased level and complexity of cyberattacks worldwide, specifically malware and the related usage of cryptocurrency, in addition to criminal activities over the dark web including the crimes of selling computer viruses, spyware, and hacking software.'
She also discussed the impact of this type of software. 'Malware is considered as one of the highest risks in technology worldwide because of its high probability of occurrence and high impact as well, according to this year's annual report by the World Economic Forum.'
'The report also refers to the negative impact of malware on people's finances. According to Kaspersky's latest research, there has been a seven per cent increase in the number of users affected financially due to the malware in the first half of 2019 compared to the same period last year, a 31 per cent of malware infection rate, double the infection percentage in 2018,' she added.
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