Oman takes steps to guard against virus

The institutions in Oman continue to take precautionary measures on Sunday to protect data from any kind of cyberattacks even as the Information Technology Authority (IT) said the situation in Oman is under control and only one case of ransomware attack has been reported in one of the government organisations in the Sultanate.

Several institutions even temporarily shut down servers to analyse possible damages or investigate whether there have been any attacks on the servers in Oman.

These steps were initiated despite a recent report that Oman is well prepared and ranked fifth in the world after the US, Canada, Australia, Malaysia that are best prepared to handle cyberattacks. In fact it is only the country from the Arab world to figure in the top 16.

The unprecedented global cyberattack has hit more than 200,000 victims in scores of countries, Europol said in London on Sunday, warning that the situation could escalate when people return to work.

An international manhunt was well under way for the plotters behind the world’s biggest-ever computer ransom assault.

The indiscriminate attack, which began last Friday, struck banks, hospitals and government agencies in more than 150 countries, exploiting known vulnerabilities in old Microsoft computer operating systems.

US package delivery giant FedEx, European car factories, Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica, Britain’s health service and Germany’s Deutsche Bahn rail network were among those hit. Meanwhile, the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Oman said that it has taken all precautionary measures to avoid the impact of ransomware. It added that the systems are functioning fully and refuted any social media reports.

ITA said it would like to notify the public that Oman has specialised teams capable to respond to information security emergencies and to deal with such cyberattacks in cooperation with the entities concerned.