The UAE has contained “advanced and coordinated” cyberattacks targeting organisations in the aviation, energy and education sectors, according to the country’s Cyber Security Council.
The campaigns involved attempts to breach digital infrastructure, access accounts and operational data, and use phishing emails to trick employees into providing attackers with access to their organisations. National cybersecurity teams traced the attack paths and contained the intrusions before critical systems or services were disrupted, the council said in a statement on August 10.
It is the second major cyber campaign disclosed by the council in two months. On July 3, the council said it had detected and contained sophisticated intrusion attempts against financial-sector organisations. It has not identified those behind the latest attacks or said whether they were linked to a foreign government.
Sam Tayan, Illumio’s director of sales for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, said the disclosures reflected a broader increase in hostile cyber activity targeting critical industries. He added that publishing details about the sectors and techniques involved could help other organisations strengthen their defences.
Tayan also said artificial intelligence was enabling attackers to conduct reconnaissance, tailor phishing campaigns and automate parts of the attack process more quickly. Mansour Alhmoud, Group-IB’s regional threat intelligence lead, urged organisations to focus on identifying likely adversaries and stopping attacks before they begin.
Source: Agbi
