The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has thwarted a total of 86 cyber-attacks against government, semi-government and private sector entities in the UAE during the first two months of the year.
According to the TRA, the number of cyber-attack case are 66 percent down as compared to the corresponding period in 2017.
The attacks stymied by the TRA’s Computer Emergency Readiness Team during February reached 52, and 34 in January, with 39 thereof categorised as fraudulent offensives, 16 as data breaches, while the rest is aimed at defacing and blocking websites, and for other purposes, according to the TRA statistics.
Ransomware-type viruses such as Zyklon were among the most rampant during January and February.
Cyber attacks seek to deface and block government websites, including denial of service, hacking, deception, fraud, and identity and document theft.
TRA has been launching awareness campaigns, including lectures, seminars and workshops to promote cyber safety and best practices in this field, calling upon all departments to have backup data bases independent of the internet.
