Cyberattacks on Azerbaijan’s government information systems have increased substantially over the past week, with attempts to penetrate systems and employees’ email accounts alongside distributed denial-of-service attacks, a senior security official said on Oct. 20.
Nadir Novruzov, a department head at the State Service for Special Communication and Information Security, told reporters the main aim was to disrupt government resources and prevent citizens from accessing electronic services, APA reported.
DDoS attacks remain the principal method, overwhelming a resource with requests to obstruct normal operation. An attempt to enter an email account or information system does not itself establish that a breach succeeded. The latest report did not describe a confirmed data leak.
Attributing the attacks to a particular country is difficult, Novruzov said, because attackers use botnets made up of infected devices around the world. The locations from which traffic arrives do not establish who organized an attack.
The service is monitoring the attacks and taking measures to stop them. Identified threat indicators are also shared with banks through the Central Bank so they can take preventive action, he said.
On Oct. 14, Azerbaijan’s government Computer Emergency Response Team reported attacks that had begun on the evening of Oct. 13 and targeted more than 100 government domains.
Novruzov’s latest statement describes the situation over the past week, rather than the start of a separate new campaign.
Source: Vesti Baku.