Kazakhstan creates task force to defend power grid from hackers
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy has launched a consortium aimed at protecting the nation’s energy infrastructure from cyber threats. The group will be formed within the ministry’s Situational Analytical Center of the Fuel and Energy Complex, a research unit specializing in the country’s fuel and energy sector.
Uniting experts
The consortium includes the largest information security operations centers in Kazakhstan. These organizations have agreed to pool their efforts and resources with the government to safeguard strategic energy facilities.
The group’s first task will be to audit the cybersecurity of all critical infrastructure in the fuel and energy sector. Following the audit, participants will develop unified requirements and standards for protecting energy infrastructure. The goal is to establish a sustainable system to counter cyberattacks and improve readiness against evolving threats.
The Ministry of Energy said the consortium will serve as a key element of Kazakhstan’s technological sovereignty and form the foundation for a unified cyber defense system across its strategic industries.
The association will also remain open to new participants who share its mission of protecting national interests in the digital sphere. Clear and transparent guidelines will be established for companies seeking to join.
Growing threat
The growing number of cyberattacks in specific regions, as well as globally, is no longer a breaking news story. However, the intensity of these attacks often reveals which regions are the hottest targets for hackers, and the Commonwealth of Independent States is one of them. According to a 2024 survey by Positive Technologies, the region saw a 2.6-fold increase in cyberattacks in the second quarter of 2024 compared with the same period last year.
Russia accounted for nearly three-quarters (73%) of cyberattacks targeting organizations in the CIS, followed by Kazakhstan at 8% and Belarus at 7%. Public institutions reported the highest share of attacks at 18%, followed by the industrial sector at 11% and the telecommunications industry at 10%. The attacks came from a wide range of perpetrators, from shadow market operators to state-sponsored cyber spies.
Meanwhile, between 90% and 99% of organizations in Kazakhstan fail to meet data protection standards, according to Ivan Korshunov, chief information security officer at Bereke Bank.
He cited the government’s eGov.kz portal as an example, noting that the state-run site transmits personal data from its servers to users’ mobile devices without using cryptographic information protection facilities (CIPF), encryption or data decompression.
