BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 6
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Eleven percent of users in Azerbaijan faced cyberattacks in 2020, Mikhail Pribochiy, managing director at Kaspersky Lab in Russia, the CIS, and the Baltic countries, told Trend on May 6.
According to Pribochiy, the share of users in Azerbaijan who faced local threats last year amounted to 44 percent.
“This is a global tendency: the decrease in the number of attacks is fully compensated by the increase in the complexity of threats. Last year, our web antivirus blocked almost 33.5 million unique malicious objects, which is 36 percent more than in 2019. If the attack isn’t repelled in time, then users and businesses can lose their finances or data," he said.
Besides, he noted that the vast majority of attacks are massive in nature and can lead to negative consequences.
“For example, in 2020, businesses all over the world suffered from ‘ransomware’. This is malware that encrypts data and requires a ransom to return access to it,” the managing director further said. “In some cases, cybercriminals also threaten to release the received data into the public domain. In this regard, it’s important for all businesses to remember about comprehensive protection, which includes tools to counter a wide variety of types of malware.”
He also pointed out that digitalization is penetrating all spheres of life both in Azerbaijan and around the world.
"In 2020, the introduction of information technology has significantly accelerated due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was necessary to provide the ability to work remotely, provide support to users and businesses, provide medical, educational, and a number of other services,” Pribochiy said.
“Azerbaijan has all the resources to meet the leading world standards in this area in terms of informatization. We are especially pleased that the country realizes the importance of an integrated approach to cybersecurity, the need not only to ensure the protection of end devices but also to provide for network monitoring, protection against complex attacks, the ability to promptly receive information about the latest threats and effective assistance in investigating incidents," added the managing director.
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