Intelligent CISO Issue 31 | Page 9

South Africa , Kenya and Nigeria saw millions of cyberattacks in 2020 reach more users , for instance , while in South Africa , the malware would attack 415,000 users in seven months of 2020 , the figure for PUA would be 736,000 . aspersky has reported on
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WESTERN AUSTRALIA ’ S FIRST WHOLE-OF-GOVERNMENT CYBERSECURITY OPERATIONS CENTRE LAUNCHED
I for the Western Australia
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South Africa , Kenya and Nigeria saw millions of cyberattacks in 2020 reach more users , for instance , while in South Africa , the malware would attack 415,000 users in seven months of 2020 , the figure for PUA would be 736,000 . aspersky has reported on

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28 million malware attacks in 2020 and 102 million detections of potentially unwanted programs ( pornware , adware etc .) it accounted for by the beginning of August 2020 .
These numbers show that it ’ s not only the malware that attacks users , but also the ‘ grey zone ’ programs that grow in popularity and disturb their experiences , while users might not even know it is there . Potentially unwanted applications
( PUAs ) are programs that are usually not considered to be malicious by themselves . However , they are generally influencing user experience in a negative way . For instance , adware fills user device with ads ; aggressive monetising software propagates unrequested paid offers ; downloaders may download even more various applications on the device , sometimes malicious ones . While calculating interim results of threat landscape activity in African countries , the researchers noticed that PUAs attack users almost four-times more often than traditional malware . They also eventually
“ The reason why ‘ grey zone ’ software is growing in popularity is that it is harder to notice at first and that if the program is detected , its creators won ’ t be considered to be cybercriminals ,” said Denis Parinov , a Security Researcher at Kaspersky . “ The problem with them is that users are not always aware they consented to the installation of such programs on their device and that in some cases , such programs are exploited or used as a disguise for malware downloads . This is why many security solutions , including ours , flags such programs to make sure users are aware of its presence , influence on their device and activity .”

WESTERN AUSTRALIA ’ S FIRST WHOLE-OF-GOVERNMENT CYBERSECURITY OPERATIONS CENTRE LAUNCHED

nnovation and ICT Minister

I for the Western Australia

Government , Dave Kelly , has announced AU $ 1.8 million of funding in the upcoming State Budget for the establishment of the State Government ’ s new Cybersecurity Operations Centre .
The new whole-of-government Cybersecurity Operations Centre will significantly improve visibility of the cyberthreats against agencies ’ networks and the government ’ s capability to detect and respond to cybersecurity incidents .
The new operations centre will support existing complementary efforts to improve cybersecurity resilience across government . It will also expand and complement the existing dedicated
cybersecurity team within the Department of the Premier and Cabinet ’ s Office of Digital Government .
Staff in the new operations centre will be trained cybersecurity professionals , with the centre also offering further avenues of work and training for cybersecurity TAFE and university students participating in the Office of Digital Government ’ s work integrated learning programme .
Faiz Shuja , Co-Founder and CEO , SIRP Labs , said : “ Providing the job opportunities and training for people entering the cybersecurity industry will better prepare governments to respond to state-sponsored threats in their networks , while simultaneously addressing any native shortage in cyberskills .
“ Following the pandemic , the numbers out of work continue to rise . Many of them would jump at the chance to retrain and skill-up in a well-paid profession like cybersecurity where the global shortage of professionals is well known .
“ If successful , it could become a model for other governments to follow .” www . intelligentciso . com | Issue 31
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