UAE thwarts over 600 cyberattacks targeting key public, private sectors

Abu Dhabi: The Cybersecurity Council of the UAE Government has confirmed that national cybersecurity systems have successfully thwarted cyberattacks targeting 634 government and private entities. These attacks aimed to leak data from vital and strategic sectors in the UAE and were mitigated using global best practices in cybersecurity.

Dr. Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity for the UAE Government, told the Emirates News Agency (WAM) that a threat actor known as "rose87168" claimed to have breached Oracle Cloud's SSO and LDAP, leading to the leak of approximately six million customer records globally, including sensitive user password data.

He added that estimates suggest around 140,000 entities worldwide may have been affected by the breach, including 634 entities in the UAE—of which 30 are government entities, 13 are private, and the rest fall under other categories.

The Cybersecurity Council clarified that emergency cybersystems have been activated across the country in coordination with relevant authorities to safeguard the UAE’s cyberspace and enhance its defense against hacking attempts and cyber threats.

The Council urged all government and private institutions to strengthen their cybersecurity defenses, increase their cyber readiness levels, and report any suspicious activity targeting digital systems immediately.

It also stressed the importance of vigilance and adopting best security practices to counter evolving cyber threats, particularly as hacking and cyber fraud techniques become more sophisticated.