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Almaty to Host International Conference KazHackStan-2024

The Kazakh Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry has announced that Almaty is to host KazHackStan-2024 from 11-13 September. Featuring presentations by more than 30 worldwide specialists, the cybersecurity conference is expected to attract over 5,000 visitors from home and abroad. KazHackStan will represent all aspects of cyber defense. Government & Business Day will provide a platform for discussion on policy and legislation; Secure Development Day, on experiences in secure software development; and HackDay, where experts and novices will learn about hacking techniques and vulnerabilities. As part of the conference, the Ministry and the Centre for Analysis and Investigation of Cyber ​​Attacks, will conduct a panel session for members of Organization of Turkic States on cybersecurity in the region. The event will also include a CyberKumbez competition - the largest hacker competition in Central Asia – involving over 100 hackers and representatives of both large companies and government agencies. Models of real IT infrastructure have been prepared for participants to simulate and neutralize virtual threats, to help ensure the future security of the state and society.  

Kazakhstan Joins UN Crime Prevention Commission for First Time

The 33rd session of the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) was held in Vienna. According to the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kazakhstan has been elected for the first time to the CPPUC for the period from 2025 to 2027 and "is ready to make its practical contribution to the work of the commission, taking into account the accumulated national experience in crime prevention and criminal justice." The permanent representative of Kazakhstan to international organizations in Vienna, Mukhtar Tleuberdi informed the participants of the session about the latest reforms in law enforcement agencies of Kazakhstan, the development of the penitentiary system to bring it closer to international standards, including reducing the number of prisoners, rehabilitation, reintegration of citizens returning from conflict zones, as well as reducing the level of re-offenders. The Kazakh delegation also stressed the importance of developing international cooperation on preventing and combating organized crime, corruption, terrorism, and other criminal activities. "Mukhtar Tleuberdi emphasized the contribution of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and donor countries in the implementation of these tasks, assuring the further support of Kazakhstan to the activities of UNODC, including through the allocation of voluntary contributions to the Global Program against Cybercrime,", stated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Large-Scale Cyberattacks on Kazakhstan Continue

Leaks of millions of citizens data, attacks by hackers, hourly calls from fraudsters - these are just some of the threats which have faced Kazakhstan over the past few months. Following the resignation – or dismissal depending on which source one believes - of the head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and the Aerospace Industry, Bagdat Mussin, many wonder whether the authorities will be able to secure Kazakhstan's internet. The Times of Central Asia investigates. On May 9, AlmaTV, Kazakhstan’s largest internet and cable TV provider, suffered an attack by hackers which caused disruption to its’ services. “According to data received… the cause of the disruption was a large-scale and multi-level cyberattack," AlmaTV stated. The outage solely affected internet broadcasting, whilst analog, digital and satellite TV services were working normally. According to numerous sources, the broadcast of the Victory Day military parade in Moscow was interrupted by footage of an anti-Russian nature, alleged torture, and other explicit content. Officials in Kazakhstan have yet to commented. This is not the first scandal in the sphere of cybersecurity. In March of this year, the State Technical Service JSC discovered that personal data pertaining to over two million clients of the microfinance organization, zaimer.kz (MFO Robocash.kz LLP), had been compromised. Warnings about the leak were also received by people who had never used the company’s services. In the opinion of many analysts, the reaction of the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations and the Aerospace Industry was extremely late in coming, extremely vague, and in no way reassured Kazakhstanis about the safety of their private information. Mussin was accused of making excuses, poor-quality communication, failing to answer questions, and “babble talk.” In addition, back in February, foreign media, in particular CyberNews, reported that in leaked Chinese Government documents, data belonging to residents of Kazakhstan was found. The documents were related to spyware developed by the Chinese information security company, iSoon, and targeted social media platforms, telecommunications companies, and other such organizations. Allegedly, unknown assailants have posted a huge number of PRC government documents on GitHub. The information circulated also revealed sensitive data pertaining to several telecom operators in Kazakhstan. Also in February, a shocking statement by the Center for Analysis and Investigation of Cyberattacks (TSARKA) appeared, according to which a Chinese hacker group controlled the critical facets within Kazakhstan's IT infrastructure for almost two years. “On February 16, 2024, unknown persons published on the GitHub resource a leak of secret data from the Chinese company iSoon (aka Anxun), one of the contractors of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS). It is reported to be associated with Chengdu 404, a structure controlled by Chinese cyber intelligence known as APT41,” TSARKA said. “The attackers’ goal was both general information, such as databases, and targeted information of specific individuals: control of correspondence, calls and movement. Data analysis showed that the volume of stolen information is measured in terabytes.” The hackers managed to gain control over the event logs, call durations, IMEIs of devices, and...