PESHAWAR   -  Experts of the global cyber security and digital privacy company Kasper­sky have revealed that the number of overall cyber threats in Pakistan has increased by 17% in 2023 as compared to 2022.

The facts surfaced in a recent dis­cussion on the evolution of the cy­ber threat landscape in the region during its 9th annual Cyber Secu­rity Weekned-META 2024 on Mon­day, said a press release. Kaspersky blocked 16 million cyber attacks in 2023 whereas 24.4% of users in Pa­kistan are affected by online threats. 

The focal point of the discussions was the security of emerging tech­nology trends such as AI that are influencing the scale of modern threats. In parallel, threats target­ing industrial control systems with­in critical infrastructure, in the Mid­dle East, Africa, and Asia were also discussed.

Dissecting the threat landscape further, Kaspersky experts saw at­tacks using banking malware rose by 59%, such attacks designed to collect online banking credentials and other sensitive information from infected machines. 

Researchers also reported an in­crease of 35% in trojan attacks that disguise themselves as legitimate computer programmes but are used to run malicious code by cyber crim­inals. 

In addition, ransomware attacks designed to encrypt a victim’s data, files, or system, making them acces­sible in exchange for a payment, in­creased by 24%. 

Also, the researchers reported at­tacks using spyware rose by 36%, such attacks are malicious software that enters a user’s computer, gath­ers data from the device and user, and sends it to third parties without their consent.

“Being an emerging country and accepting digital transformation at a good pace, Pakistan has a very im­portant role to play in Asia,” said the release. 

As the cyber security landscape evolves, cyber threats continue to become diverse and sophisticated. This trend is particularly evident due to the emergence of advanced technologies like AI and the escalat­ing geopolitical and economic tur­bulence within the META region. 

Director of META Research Centre Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) Amin Hasbini stated that these factors collectively contribute to the surge in cybercrime and the heightened complexity of cyber at­tacks.

According to Kaspersky’s analy­sis of the cyber security threat land­scape in the META region has fluctu­ated significantly. 

In the region, Turkey saw the high­est number of users affected by on­line threats 41.8%, followed by Ken­ya 39.2%, Qatar 38.8% and South Africa 35%. Fewer users were affect­ed in Oman 23.4% and Egypt 27.4% followed by Saudi Arabia 29.9% and Kuwait 30.8%.