Recurrent attacks risk key sectors
Ethiopia has faced repeated and large-scale cyber-attacks over the last few months with the recent incident leading to a brief period of nation-wide internet blackout.
The financial and communication sectors have been among the primary infrastructural facilities the attackers have targeted.
Banks and other financial institutions such as the Ministry of Finance are on the top lists of cyber attackers. The latest attacks are worth-mentioning in this regard.
These incidents have put the capacity of the country to deter cyber-attack, an increasing global problem, under scrutiny. Though there have not been official statements from the government on the scales of the damages that the recent attacks have inflicted on the country, cyber-attacks continued to pose a looming risk to the government and private companies.
In fact, it is quite recently that the country revealed its plan of setting up cyber security force and strengthening its cyber deterrence capacity. And this time experts warn on the potential ramifications of cyber-attacks calling for building a stronger and effective cyber defense capacity.
The country’s decision was welcomed by experts in what they described it as pre-emptive and far-sighted move as more and more institutions would move to digitize their systems.
Labeled as ‘threat of the time’, cyber-attack has already been causing tremendous damages. And countries are using cyber security force to counter terrorism, protect classified information and prevent groups that use cyber as weapon to harm the sovereignty and national interests of countries.
Senait Mulugeta is an MSC graduate specializing in Cyber-security and Information Assurance at Virginia University of Science and Technology.
It is very difficult to determine who is behind the recent attack and tell what motives they pursue. The reason for such adverse acts could range from attempting to steal credentials to obtaining information such as the passwords and personal information of bank staff and their customers, she states.
“This allows them to access accounts and place fraudulent orders. They can also use the information to coerce the government into taking some actions on whatever intension they have …including demanding a ransom in exchange of a database they blocked,” she says.
As the financial system is fragile, the hostile actors could deliberately induce a negative shock on the industry to send the economy into downward spiral, she argues.
Businesses, healthcare, banking, government/military, energy/utility and education are world’s top targets for cyber-attacks, Senait notes, adding that for countries like Ethiopia, the scope of the vulnerability relies on various factors.
To mention but a few, the level of digitization of each sector and their connectivity, the motive of the attackers, the sensitivity of the information the targeted sectors contain, and so forth, she adds.
On such accounts and as the government of Ethiopia claims, it makes sense to say that the financial sector is more vulnerable, according to her.
To make matters worse, Senait doubts whether the sector has the required finance and human capital to properly overcome the threat.
Nevertheless, the work in the pipeline is very encouraging as building a full-fledged cyber-security capacity is a very expensive project which requires advanced technology and able human capital, she argues. “For countries like Ethiopia, it will continue to be a challenge.”
The attackers are far better from the world’s capacity of handling the menace as they use very advanced technologies that are ahead of technologies being used to secure data, she says.
“As Ethiopia is an emerging country in using the technology, it is very difficult to say we are efficient enough.”
According to her, chasing attackers is very costly and almost impossible as they move around the world, making it difficult to pinpoint their whereabouts. Avoiding such kind of attacks is not easy as well; it requires a comprehensive approach that includes a new generation of advanced technology, proactive threat hunting and corporate policies and procedures for handling data.
In general terms, if Information Network Security Agency (INSA) or Ethiopia as a country does not have a formal cyber-security incident response plan applicable across all government sectors and other institutions, it will leave them even more vulnerable in the aftermath of a hacking event.
Rather than getting to the point of no return, combatting cyber-attacks should proactively be managed through preventative action, technological excellence and training of both IT professionals and users, according to her.
Also, institutions need to have a dedicated info security staff to take the lead in identifying and remediating cyber-security weakness. There should be a way to weigh a range of options and approaches to strengthening defenses against breaches, data theft and extortion, she says.
African economy in general and that of Ethiopian in particular, has faced economic and institutional barriers in developing cyber-security manpower. Ethiopia needs to have cyber-security skills development programs and higher institutions should include cyber-security in their curriculums.
And institutions should consider adopting new options like multi-factor authentication and biometric credentials for account access, artificial intelligence and machine learning, according to her.
With regard to the government’s decision to set up cyber-security force, Senait says a given country’s information is part and parcel of its sovereignty. Therefore, it needs to be protected. A given government could be targeted by foreign power(s) that tries to spy upon the country or put a negative impact on a global competitor, she says, adding that the government has to further advance activities to defend itself and other companies.
Ethiopia was hit by 256 grand cyber-attacks in the first six months of the fiscal year 2017, according to INSA.
It was reported by many international mainstream media that even the world’s powerful nations, the US and Russia have been in talks to form cyber security unit to repulsing attacks from the Internet. The scale of the threat is also requiring global alliance.
The Ethiopian Harald January 24/2020
BY DESTA GEBREHIWOT
