Corporate News

Throughout 2022 and the first quarter of 2023, 14% of installs of potentially unwanted mobile financial apps on Android phones were made by users in the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa (META) region. META ranks third among the world regions behind APAC and LATAM in terms of the number of installs of such apps. As Android holds a dominant market share of 78% in the Middle East , 80% in Africa and 70% in Turkiye , cyberthreats for this mobile operating system remain persistent. Kaspersky experts continuously monitor the mobile threat landscape and track threat trends to provide the most up-to-date intelligence about the potential dangers.

Kaspersky recently analyzed what digital superstitions Internet users in the META region believe in nowadays and investigated whether there are grounds for these beliefs.

At the annual Cyber Security Weekend – META 2023, the details of Kaspersky’s recent initiative on Darknet incidents monitoring were revealed. When detecting a cybersecurity incident related to corporate data compromised on the Dark web, whether it be sale of a database, infrastructure compromise or ransomware, the victim company was notified about this threat by Kaspersky team.

Industrial control systems (ICS) are used to run modern critical infrastructure, including energy stations and nuclear power plants. These objects operate at constant risk of being cyberattacked. According to the statistics from Kaspersky ICS CERT revealed at Cyber Security Weekend – META 2023, attacks were detected on 27% of ICS computers in the Middle East in Q1 2023. To protect nuclear power plants from cyber threats, Kaspersky has developed a unique secure-by-design approach to their protection that eliminates the chance of cyberattacks affecting the infrastructure.

Deepfake creation tools and services can be found on darknet marketplaces. These services offer generative AI video creation for a variety of purposes, including fraud, blackmail, and stealing confidential data. The prices for creating or purchasing deepfakes may vary depending on the complexity of the project and the quality of the final product. According to the estimates by Kaspersky experts, prices per one minute of a deepfake video may range from $300 to $20,000. This was announced at Kaspersky Cyber Security Weekend – META 2023.

During the annual Cyber Security Weekend 2023 for the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa which was recently held in Almaty, Kazakhstan Kaspersky researchers announced the discovery of a series of attacks by a new malware supposedly developed by the infamous OilRig Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) group that has been active in the Middle East and Turkiye for over a decade. The group is known for targeting high-profile government entities across the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa for cyberespionage purposes.

Throughout 2022, almost 38% of industrial control system (ICS) computers globally have been attacked with malware. In the Middle East, the figure sits at just over 42%, according to Kaspersky ICS CERT1 statistics. This is a high growth threat landscape that no public or private sector entity, especially in critical sectors like energy and mining, can ignore.

A Kaspersky study has revealed that every third C-level executive (34%) struggles to speak about adopting new security solutions with their IT or IT security colleagues. The latter however, feel increasing the budget for cyber security is the toughest topic to discuss with non-IT management.

AI use is on the rise, which poses a risk to the existence of many jobs across regions. Recently the ChatGPT bot was made available to the public – it can maintain a coherent conversation, explain complex scientific concepts, artistically translate texts between languages, and much more. Other types of robots have been among people for years, washing cars, delivering orders, sorting goods in warehouses, delivering pills to patients, and doing assembly works at plants. According to Kaspersky research1, there are concerns among employees in the Middle East, Turkiye and Africa region in regards to robots and automation systems used by companies. More than half (55%) are afraid of losing their job to robots, and every fifth employee 22% reported they heard of cybersecurity incidents with robots or automated systems in their company. At the same time, many employees see the positive aspects that robotization brings to them.

Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day, and for many, it inspires to look for a special someone. However, as online dating popularity continues to grow so do the threats from cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerable individuals. In 2022, there were over 366 million online dating service users. By 2027, it is estimated that there will be 440 million people seeking love through online platforms.– this is despite past research by Kaspersky which found that 37% of people surveyed in the Middle East, Turkiye, Africa region worry about being scammed on dating apps. In the spirit of love and sharing, Kaspersky is spotlighting its top five online dating threats to watch out for this Valentine’s Day – and its experts’ tips for staying safe when dating online.