Officials are demanding more financing for cybersecurity, following several DDoS attacks on the Kazakh internet, as the citizens of Kazakhstan have been having trouble accessing the internet since September 24. The State Technical Service, the organization in charge of maintaining the nation’s information infrastructure, confirmed the cyberattacks on September 28 on its website, The Astana Times reported.
The State Technical Service estimates that in the previous month, approximately 20 million cyberattacks were thwarted. The organization believes that the attacks had anything to do with the nation’s upcoming presidential election.
According to the Kazakh Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry Bagdat Mussin, the government is unaware of the origin or potential perpetrators of these DDoS assaults.
“Those who organize these attacks make use of proxy servers and VPNs. They are trying to disguise themselves. Attacks from within the country are far more visible than those from beyond. As a result, these attacks are certainly coming from outside of Kazakhstan,” Mussin said.
More financing for cybersecurity initiatives and the creation of a cybersecurity agency are supported by several professionals and legislators in the nation.
Yekaterina Smyshlyayeva, a member of the Mazhilis, identifies a number of concerns that need support. She claims that the state’s control over information security is constrained by the fact that just five ministry employees are in charge of more than 32,000 information assets. They would need 400 years to verify each thing at least once, she claimed. There is a severe staffing deficit.
She said that barely 1% of total expenditures in Kazakhstan’s IT sector go toward information security. This proportion should be raised to 10% in order to protect the safety of the populace.
Olzhas Satiyev, the director of TSARKA’s Center for Analysis and Investigation of Cyber Attacks, believes Kazakhstan needs a distinct body to handle cybersecurity.
The position of our nation has improved in the United Nations cybersecurity index, moving up from 118th to 31st. However, the nation must set up a cybersecurity organization. When a nation has a distinct agency that deals with cybersecurity concerns and reports to either the Head of State or the Security Council, that is a really worldwide trend, according to Satiyev.
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), one of the United Nations organizations, publishes the Global Cybersecurity Index. It offers comprehensive cybersecurity information on each of the 194 nations and ranks them according to their performance.
