Wednesday 24 / April / 2024
Muscat: At least 60 children in the GCC have been targeted for cyber extortion and 40 of them had private photographs and information published on the world wide web, according to a security expert addressing a top level forum in Oman.
A new wave of targeted attacks on websites like twitter and Instagram has closed down company websites for hours at a time. Hackers are now using anything connected to the web to help build sustained attacks online, including our smart TVs, video recorders and even refrigerators.
The forum, held on Wednesday night, issued a checklist for residents of Oman to stay safe online and keep their children away from blackmailers.
Ibrahim Al Shuaily, President of Security Group, addressing the forum, said: “In the GCC area, there have been 60 cases of children being extorted. A child should only be on a device for at most an hour a day. Parents are letting their children play with tablets and phones instead of spending time with them.
“60 children have been extorted online and information on 45 children has been spread online,” Al Shuaily told fellow experts.
The forum heard that internet privacy infringement and cyber blackmail is happening globally, especially in our own backyard.
Thanks to the recent cyber extortion awareness campaign, the Information Technology Authority (ITA) documented a total of 161 new cyber blackmailing cases within the first two weeks of October. This reflects a dramatic increase in people coming forward and reporting these crimes compared to only 110 cases since 2011. Overall, 355 cybercrimes have been recorded this year.
Last week, the United States witnessed an 11 hour internet blackout after a concerted web attack that affected vast regions of the East Coast and eventually made its way to parts of Europe as well. Popular websites like Twitter and Netflix were taken down as well as sites like Etsy, Spotify, Airbnb, and Reddit.
The attackers relied on an easy to use program called Mirai, according to specialists, which even novice hackers can use to take over online devices.
Miria first infects computers or home networks, and eventually spreads to DVRs, routers and even Internet connected cameras used for store surveillance, fridges and televisions.
Oman was targeted with more than five million cyber attacks in 2015, according to the Annual Report 2015 by the Information Technology Authority (ITA).
Dr. Bader Al-Mandhari, Director General of Information Security at Information Technology Authority (ITA), said that most information technology crime is caused by weak personal security.
“Strong passwords are important. In one of the exercises that we carried out for hacking passwords, we hacked a password with 23 characters and cross-referenced it in only 18 seconds.”
According to Information Technology Authority 2015 Annual report, Oman was ranked first place in the Arab world in cyber security readiness and third worldwide.
In 2015, The Oman National Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT) discovered and handled 5,932 real and serious cyber security attacks targeting Oman’s cyber space.
The information Security Division (ISD) at ITA prevented 398,118 attacks against government portals and 4,872,081 attacks against government networks.
“What makes a company like WhatsApp sell for $19 billion if they aren’t sharing your information?” Dr. Bader said.
Anything with a wifi connection is susceptible to hackers, including refrigerators. “Smart TVs, fridges and anything with a camera can use the information it sees and collects it for documentation.” Dr Bader added.
He added: “ In the United Sates today, more than 50% of the crimes committed are related to information technology. Studies show that 65% of employees upload sensitive work files onto their private mobile phones. 99% of the free mobile applications collect information and 34% of global attacks are on small businesses.”
And the forum gave a safety checklist for web users in Oman:
1. Be aware and alert.
2. Be conscious of what you are doing and know the risks you are taking.
3. Before installing an app, research it first: Even if the app seems harmless, it could still sell your information without the knowledge of the user.
4. Don’t allow it to access parts of the phone that it shouldn’t need: For example, installing a flashlight app onto the phone does not require access to the microphone.
5. Do not click on links you don’t know: Even if it is from a family member, their email or account could be hacked.
6. Strong password: having a strong password that has nothing to do with the number of characters, but diversity and strength. Do not include personal information in passwords.
7. Always change the default password on any device capable of connecting to the world wide web.
“Today’s mobile devices are more powerful than the spacecraft that went to the moon. We are not saying not to use technology, but trust yourselves and be safe.” Dr. Bader added.
To report any blackmailing cases or any other cyber security incidents, you can contact the Oman CERT through 24166828 during the working hours from 7:30 to 2:30 or 24/7 through the email: [email protected] . Also you can report though ROP hotline 80077444.
