BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 9. Head of Global Research and Analysis Team at Kaspersky, Dmitry Galov, informed this week about the almost triple growth in the number of cyberattacks on mobile users in Azerbaijan in 2023 (from January through August), Trend reports.
According to him, 224,000 cyberattacks have been made on mobile devices in Azerbaijan over the first eight months of this year, up almost three times on an annual basis.
The most common cyber threats have become modes for the Minecraft game with hidden advertising (i.e., applications that "watch" ads in the background) and other non-gaming applications with aggressive advertising modules, as well as fake job search apps and modifications of popular messengers with built-in spy modules that intercept user notifications.
If the first three threats relate to unwanted software, the last two—trojans—pose a direct threat to the user. For example, fake job search apps can lead to financial loss, and modifications of messengers with spy modules can result in the leakage of confidential information from notifications (messages from personal conversations, verification codes for banking operations, etc.).
"Unwanted and malicious software remains an active cyber threat for mobile phone users. Adware, although it doesn't directly contain malicious functionality, can also disrupt the full use of a device, as aggressive advertising modules often display ads over all applications," an expert in cybersecurity at Kaspersky Lab, Dmitry Kalinin, explained.
"Besides, the ads shown by such modules often do not undergo any moderation, which can result in ads containing links to malicious websites or applications. We urge smartphone owners to remain vigilant when downloading applications: pay attention to the developer, their ratings, and reviews from other users," the expert added.
Moreover, during this week, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest investment companies in the world, have discussed application of clean and digital energy technologies.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijan and China have discussed projects in the field of technology application of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) said that EU countries exported 52,450 smartphones (growth by 1.8 times) worth 40.7 million euro to Azerbaijan from January through June 2023, which is a two-fold increase in value terms, on annual basis.
The top three exporters of smartphones from January through June this year were Czech Republic with 50,070 smartphones (up by 1.8 times) worth 40.5 million euro (growth by 2.1 times), Slovakia with 37.09 million euro and Italy with 16.1 million euro (both growth by 2.3 times).