NCSC spotlights 453 cyber threats in 2023

AMMAN — The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the third quarter of 2023 dealt with 453 incidents that targeted the websites of ministries, public departments and other vital institutions.

In its Cyber Threat Situational Report, the NCSC said that the number of responses reached 20, during which the digital investigation team conducted 22 digital analyses of the related evidence, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The security incidents were distributed by the level of risk to 26 per cent as risk, 1 per cent as high risk, 8 per cent as low risk, and 65 per cent as average risk.

The report monitored the most significant cyber incidents, including 8 per cent as ransomware, 8 per cent as hack attempts, 7 per cent as policy non-compliance, 7 per cent as e-phishing, and 70 per cent as other malware.

The report also referred to the security checks of servers at the Government Data Centre and several government institutions, with a total of 82,733 security gaps, and 708 gaps on 89 websites affiliated with 63 institutions.

The most significant national cyber risks monitored were the use of unlicensed or non-updated software, open internal Internet services, insecure settings for network protocols, open protocols (without data encryption) and unprotected DNS servers.

The report identified weaknesses that varied depending on risk ratings to 3 per cent as open protocols, 27 per cent as end-of-support software, 33 per cent as security errors and 37 per cent as insecure settings.

On regional and global indicators, the report showed that the cyber threat environment is characterised by continuous change depending on several factors, including geopolitical changes, the motives of threat sources, their classification and technological capabilities.

The report added that top global and regional events such as the Russian-Ukrainian war and the war on Gaza led to increased cyber activities.