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Kazakhstan Takes Bold Steps to Boost Cybersecurity Amid Ongoing Administrative Changes

In a bid to enhance its cybersecurity posture, Kazakhstan has been undertaking significant reforms in public administration and establishing new organizations to tackle the growing threat of cyber attacks.

Strengthening Cybersecurity Measures

According to official sources, the Committee on Information Security of the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry was formed last year, while the Republican State Enterprise “State Technical Service” was transferred to the National Security Committee. The main objective of these moves is to boost information security and protect Kazakhstan’s communication infrastructure.

Additionally, the country has established KZ-CERT, a computer incident response service that provides technical support to users in preventing cyber threats. The organization’s primary goal is to reduce the level of cybersecurity threats affecting Kazakh internet users.

Progress Made

The efforts have paid off, with the number of information security incidents in Kazakhstan declining over the past few quarters, according to data from the Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor’s Office.

Ongoing Administrative Changes

However, despite these advancements, ongoing administrative changes in the country remain a concern. In February 2019, the President of Kazakhstan decided to dismiss the government, followed by his own early resignation in March of the same year. These frequent changes have raised concerns about the stability of the country and its ability to attract foreign investors.

“Systematic changes in the country can lead to instability, which negatively impacts not only investors but also tourists,” said an analyst.

“These developments have directly affected the activities of sectoral executive bodies in developing and applying ICT in the country.”

Cybersecurity Rankings

Despite these challenges, Kazakhstan has made significant progress in cybersecurity. According to the Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) draft for 2018, the country has raised its rating from 83rd position to 40th position, a remarkable achievement.

Kazakhstan’s Concept of Cybersecurity aims to increase the country’s cybersecurity index by 0.300 by 2022. However, according to GCI draft for 2018, Kazakhstan has already exceeded its expected goals with a mark of 0.778.

Experts believe that it is necessary to update the Concept of Cybersecurity by introducing new priority goals and objectives. The United States and Estonia continue to occupy leading positions in cybersecurity rankings, while Singapore’s indicators have decreased by five positions and Russia’s by 16 positions.

Figures

  • Figure 1: Number of information security incidents in Kazakhstan (2018-2020)
  • Figure 2: WDC ranking indicator (2017-2019)
  • Figure 3: Comparative diagram between WDC and GCI rankings

Sources

  • Committee on Information Security of the Ministry of Defense and Aerospace Industry
  • Republican State Enterprise “State Technical Service”
  • Committee on Legal Statistics and Special Records of the General Prosecutor’s Office
  • Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) draft for 2018