Spyware attacks on organisations in Middle East increase by 11.8%

Spyware attacks on organisations in the Middle East increased by 11.8 percent at the beginning of 2023 until 15 May 2023, a cybersecurity expert said.

Focusing on countries, during the same time, Qatar witnessed an increase of 23.8 percent increase in spyware attacks, Egypt 22.7 percent, UAE 10.1 percent, Kuwait 7.8 percent and Saudi Arabia 4.5 percent.

Spyware continues to be a threat to users of different types of devices, including thin clients, the expert said.

“Thin clients are used in corporate networks around the world to set up workspaces at a much lower cost than when using traditional laptop or desktop computers (thick clients). A thin client on a traditional OS (Linux, Windowsbased) could potentially be targeted by different types of attacks, including spyware,” he added.

A compromised thin client could serve as an entry point to the corporate network, and it could be used to get hold of confidential data, get control over other machines on the network and run malicious software. According to Kaspersky, there are over 60 vulnerabilities in thin clients that could be used by cybercriminals.

In response to advancing cyberthreats, Kaspersky promoted the Cyber Immune approach. The Kaspersky Secure Remote Workspace solution offers a manageable and functional thin client infrastructure that is built according to the secure-by-design principle and the Cyber Immune approach that makes them more resilient to cyberattacks in comparison to traditional thin clients. Together with Centerm, a global producer of thin clients, Kaspersky produces the KTC (Kaspersky Thin Client) – the world’s first thin client with Cyber Immunity that requires no additional antivirus protection tools. At the core of the solution lies KasperskyOS, a microkernel operating system.

KTC excludes the possibility of exploiting a wide range of vulnerabilities common in traditional thin clients. Another component of the solution – the unified management console – solves the problem of managing and monitoring thin client infrastructure.

A thin client based on KasperskyOS is part of the Kaspersky Secure Remote Workspace solution.

Kaspersky Secure Remote Workspace is suitable for many areas where a large number of workstations with similar tasks and a standard set of applications are used: the public sector, educational institutions, production, fuel and energy sector, healthcare, financial organisations, retail, and others.

“Thin clients have gained popularity over the last years, especially after the pandemic, as organisations were seeking cost-effective ways of setting up remote workplaces. It is also believed by many that they are secure to use and less vulnerable to malware than traditional machines,” said Victor Ivanovsky, KasperskyOS Business Development Lead.

“However, this belief is nothing more than a myth: thin clients running traditional operating systems are vulnerable, and our internal research shows that they can be hacked with a simple tool in under 10 minutes and be used to spy on users and get hold of confidential data,” he added.

“We believe that the future of thin client development should be determined by Cyber Immunity. Attacks on a Cyber Immune system are ineffective — they continue to function even in an aggressive environment and stop potential attackers in their tracks.”