NCSC report records decline in cyber incidents, highlights key threats

AMMAN — The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has dealt with a total of 524 cyber incidents targeting government networks during the second quarter of 2023. 

These findings were revealed in the Cyber Threat Situation Report issued by NCSC on Sunday. It stated that cyber incidents decreased by 7 per cent compared with Q1, indicating an “overall improvement” in protection measures taken by some institutions to prevent cyber attacks. 

The report also showed that digital analysis operations conducted by response teams classified 66 per cent of recorded security incidents as cybercrimes, while 22 per cent were considered Hacktivism and 12 per cent cyber espionage.

It also said that 68 per cent of the registered security incidents were of “moderate risk”, while 20 per cent of them were classified as a “high risk”. Only 1 per cent of incidents were classified as “highly risky”.

The report said that website defacement attacks against five Jordanian institutions were registered besides data leaks from 4251 accounts of public sector employees using malicious software, including Redline, Vidar, Raccoon, AZOrult, and Taurus, among others. 

Most detected incidents resulted from malicious software that had been installed due to the low level of awareness among users, shortcomings in the implementation of protection policies issued by NCSC, or the absence of strict penalties, the report said. 

Periodic checkups on 54 websites for 51 institutions, resulted in the detection of 350 security vulnerabilities, marking a 48 per cent decrease compared with the first quarter (Q1) of 2023, it added. 

Security check-ups on servers in government data centres and a number of public institutions revealed 98,947 security holes, marking a 23 per cent increase compared with Q1 of 2023, according to the report. 

The report said that 62 penetration tests were conducted for six institutions and resulted in the discovery of 26 security flaws. 

The report pointed out that the most prominent sources of national cyber security risks included the use of unsafe settings, expired software, security flaws and open protocols.