Kuwait hit by 1,305 cyber-attacks tied to COVID-19 during H1 of ’20

Kuwait ranks high among Gulf countries: report

KUWAIT CITY, Oct 11: A report issued by Trend Micro, the global leader in developing cybersecurity solutions, indicates Kuwait was exposed to 1,305 cyberattacks related to the new corona pandemic (COVID-19) during the first half of 2020, reports Al-Anba daily.

As cases of the new coronavirus continue to increase, many attackers/hackers on the Internet are taking advantage of the word “coronavirus” or “COVID-19” to launch more cyber attacks, including spam attacks, breach of corporate email addresses, malware, ransomware, and malicious domains.

The wave of this fraudulent activity continues to grow in light of social distancing and quarantine measures in the region.

According to the report, Kuwait ranked high in the Gulf countries in exposure to cyber attacks, as it was exposed to 1,228 attacks via spam emails, 8 threats via malware, and 69 threats with malicious hyperlink addresses, while the numbers and statistics are based on electronic threats the Trend Micro programs and solutions managed to detect and block.

In the first half of 2020, the Gulf states were subject to 163,774 cyber attacks, including 36,312 attacks via spam, 47 malware attacks, and 127,415 attacks via hyperlinks.

In this regard, Asaad Orabi, Regional Director at Trend Micro said: “Although Kuwait controls the pace of spread of the coronavirus from a public health perspective, it is classified as the second Gulf country in the number of cyber attacks directly related to the spread of the virus, which affirms the need to strengthen institutions operating in Kuwait for their efforts in investing in electronic security solutions.

“As Kuwaiti employees adapt to new work practices, they should be more careful about cyber criminals who use common internet tools and applications, participatory programs, and attached files to launch fraud operations”, Orabi added.

Applications that follow infection statistics from the coronavirus may represent great risks in this context, as well.

Information security experts recommend adopting multi-layered protection methodologies to secure all fronts, and to prevent users from accessing malicious domains that introduce malware.