Cybersecurity in Central Asia has once again come into the spotlight. According to Reuters, global giants like Google and Apple have started publicly alerting users of their products about a sharp increase in hacking threats in recent days. The simultaneous warnings from these corporations indicate the gravity of the situation.
It has been reported that Google has specifically identified Kazakhstan as a high-risk region. The reason lies in the discovery of instances where spy software linked to the company Intellexa was being utilized in the country. Data provided by Google emphasized that such attacks pose a direct threat to users' personal information.
Apple, on the other hand, announced that it began sending warnings to its users on December 2. Although the company has not disclosed extensive details about the threats, it confirmed notifying clients in over 150 countries globally, highlighting the scale and geographic breadth of these attacks.
According to Apple, hacking activities facilitated through the Intellexa spy platform have targeted hundreds of accounts in countries such as Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Angola, Egypt, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Tajikistan. This poses a serious threat to the overall cybersecurity environment in Central Asia.
Experts assess that such attacks significantly risk data theft, covert device surveillance, and breaches of personal security. Technology companies are urging users to regularly update their settings, avoid suspicious links, and utilize two-factor authentication.
These new signals regarding cybersecurity serve as a serious lesson for Central Asian countries as well—protecting the information space concerns not only individual users but also the security of entire nations.
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