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NDMA: Govt.’s network not infiltrated by hackers
…questions cyber security firm’s motive behind report
By Shervin Belgrave
Kaieteur News – There has been no successful infiltration of the Government of Guyana’s network system, the National Data Management Authority’s (NDMA’s) said on Tuesday.
NDMA’s General Manager, Christopher Deen.
The government agency issued a statement saying that it has investigated claims made by a Slovak cyber security firm, ESET that suspected Chinese hackers had infiltrated the Government network systems.
“Investigations reveal that the cyber security firm exaggerated the threat in their “exposé”, NDMA stated.
Following an extensive investigation reportedly done by NDMA to determine the validity of the ESET report, it was found that there were attempts to infiltrate but they all failed.
“The security systems employed intercepted this attempt and nullified its effects,” the agency noted.
NDMA’s General Manager, Christopher Deen added that some 442 malware attacks at government agencies were detected and mitigated by his agency during the first quarter of 2023.
While no evidence of infiltration had been found, NDMA is still continuing its investigation and said that it has contacted the cyber security firm “to gather additional information, verify the data shared, and ascertain its source”.
“To date, NDMA is still awaiting the cybersecurity firm’s response”, NDMA said.
The Slovak company’s failure to respond has caused the government to question the motive behind publishing the report.
“Cybersecurity professionals have access to sensitive information including personal data and proprietary information. Disclosing sensitive information without stakeholder consultation can be detrimental,” NDMA explained.
The Guyana government now wants to know: “How is the cybersecurity firm benefitting from publishing and making claims based on medium confidence” and linking this spear-phishing campaign to other local events without evidence-based proof?”
“The singling-out of this particular incident also raises questions, as it is not conventional practice to disclose consumer-specific information without the customer’s explicit permission,” NDMA added.
On October 5, ESET released a report claiming that its researchers have discovered a Cyberepionage attack against a government entity in Guyana by hackers that could be Chinese.
Cyberspionage or cyber spying is a type of cyber-attack where a hacker (s) attempts to access sensitive and classified data for economic gain, competitive advantage or political reasons and according to ESET, the attack on the Guyanese government was discovered in February this year and has been detected to be a spearphishing campaign.
A spearphishing campaign basically means that the hackers infiltrated the government’s network systems by sending fraudulent emails to the targeted entity, inducing it to reveal personal information.
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- Christopher Deen, Cyber attack, cyber security, hackers, infiltration of The Government of Guyana's network
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