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Ammon News - In its Q2 2023 cybersecurity assessment, the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) has disclosed the processing of 524 cyber incidents targeting government networks, ministries, and key establishments.

The detailed report, published on the Center's official website, further highlights that of these incidents, the cyber incident response team handled 29 operations, facilitating 32 digital forensic analyses related to the occurrences.

The incidents were stratified by severity: 68% medium, 11% normal, 1% very serious, and 20% high.

The most recurrent cyberattack vectors comprised 18% hacking attempts, 6% policy non-compliance, 6% ransomware, and a predominant 70% attributed to various malware types.

Disturbingly, alterations to digital content were noted across five Jordanian entities, with sensitive data of 4,251 government employees compromised.

Majority of the cyber threats were rooted in malware, often resulting from a lack of user cybersecurity education, inadequate implementation of protective measures, and laxity in enforcing Center-issued guidelines.

The quarterly assessment also spotlighted vulnerability checks on 54 websites from 51 institutions, discovering 350 security gaps a 48% decrease from Q1.

Furthermore, an alarming 98,947 security vulnerabilities were identified in government data centers, marking a 23% increase from the previous quarter.

Six institutions underwent penetration testing, comprising 62 diverse assessments including external, website, and electronic service examinations, revealing 26 vulnerabilities.

The national data sheds light on the variety of cyber threats targeting Jordanian entities. Motives ranged from financial incentives, as witnessed in ransom attacks, to data harvesting for organized cyber-criminal syndicates.

Notably, several attacks exploited outdated software vulnerabilities, accentuating the peril of using unlicensed or obsolete software.

Cybersecurity experts observed that most cyber onslaughts initiate with evolving electronic phishing techniques. Supply chain attacks targeted several private-sector entities servicing government departments.

Cyber adversaries also manipulated regional occurrences to proliferate mobile-based malware extensively.

Prominent incidents encompassed advanced threat groups infiltrating government email infrastructures, ransomware assaults on two Jordanian corporations, elite threat groups compromising government entities, and conspicuous data leaks within governmental structures.

Organizations also faced distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) onslaughts, software vulnerability exploits within the SMB service, and brute force attacks via the MS Windows' remote control protocol.

Alarming observations included advertisements for SIM card purchases, frequently used in spam or scam operations, along with government employee data breaches.

On the risk landscape, vulnerabilities within governmental networks were attributed to the utilization of unlicensed or stale software, exposed internal services, insecure network protocols, and poorly configured DNS servers susceptible to DNS Zone Transfer onslaughts.

The NCSC report endeavors to apprise stakeholders of prevalent cyber threats and vulnerabilities that have manifested over Q2 2023, elucidating their origins and potential implications.

It further highlights looming cyber threats discerned by NCSC's specialized teams in collaboration with expert partners.

Petra