WEEK 10: “A Fool Gets Beaten Even At Church” (an Estonian Proverb)

 Cybersecurity in Azerbaijan

In the previous three years, Azerbaijan has been faced to an increase in cybercrime and information security-related risks and violations. For example, from January to September 2019, 42 percent of PC users in Azerbaijan were vulnerable to cyber risks, with many users at risk of malware (software) spreading to data storage devices such as memory cards and hard drives. Over the last several years, encryption and threat programs have become more effective. In the second quarter of 2019, Kaspersky (Internet security software) discovered roughly 7,500 dangerous programs and blocked 388,000 attempts to lead Azerbaijani Internet users to phishing websites.

The most common explanation, which can be found in many other developing nations, is that Azerbaijan is becoming heavily dependent on information and communication technology (ICT) to offer services and applications, and it is poor to protect its interests as a result of this reliance. Second, the ongoing Nagorno-Karabakh war, which escalated into a major geopolitical issue in the second half of 2020, has weakened Azerbaijan's cybersecurity.

Nowadays, Azerbaijan has a gap between ICT development and cybersecurity development, which the government must address. In the areas of cyber threat analysis, electronic identity, and electronic signatures, significant progress has been made. There is now a pressing need to stress a more consistent development of e-services. E-services are currently accessible, but not in a good quality. Currently, Azerbaijan trying to build new e-government system. I believe E-government system will be secure from attacks.

References:

https://mincom.gov.az/en/view/pages/57/

https://www.dcaf.ch/sites/default/files/publications/documents/AzerbaijanCybersecurityGovernanceAssessment.pdf

https://ega.ee/project/introducing-aserbaijani-e-government/