UAE sees spike in cyberattacks with 800,000 daily attempts

Fujairah: The UAE is fending off around 800,000 cyberattacks each day, even during periods of relative calm, underscoring the persistent and evolving nature of digital threats, a senior official has said.

Dr Mohammed Al Kuwaiti, head of the UAE Cyber Security Council, revealed the scale of the activity during a public awareness session in Fujairah, noting that attacks had intensified further during recent tensions, both in frequency and sophistication.

What was once largely a landscape of direct and isolated hacking attempts has shifted into something more complex. Today’s attacks are layered and coordinated, targeting institutions, systems and individuals simultaneously through multiple channels, he said, according to Emarat Al Youm. 

From financial scams to coordinated efforts to sway public opinion, the threats have widened, now increasingly powered by artificial intelligence that automates and refines attacks. Before the escalation, daily attempts were estimated at about 200,000, a number that has since surged.

Authorities have also been tracking a wide ecosystem behind these operations. According to Al Kuwaiti, hundreds of hostile actors have been identified, including 350 organised groups, 320 amateur hackers, and 120 entities linked to malicious software activity. Around 5,000 channels on Telegram have also been monitored as part of ongoing surveillance efforts.

The persistence of such volumes, even outside peak periods, reflects a broader shift in how cyber threats operate. No longer tied to specific moments of crisis, they have become continuous, adaptive and largely borderless.

Al Kuwaiti said cyber warfare is largely fought out of sight, driven in part by digital financing tools such as cryptocurrencies and involving actors across multiple jurisdictions. Around 20 countries and more than 40 organisations have been identified as targeting the UAE, including groups with links to Iran, he added.

The growing reliance on AI has further accelerated this trend, enabling attacks to be carried out at scale with minimal human intervention, increasing both their speed and precision.

Against this backdrop, Al Kuwaiti stressed that public awareness remains the first line of defence. He urged individuals and organisations to adopt basic digital hygiene practices, from updating devices and changing default passwords to verifying the credibility of apps and investment offers, to reduce exposure to fraud and data breaches.

“The threat is constant,” Al Kuwaiti said, warning that vigilance, rather than timing, now defines resilience in the digital age.