Azerbaijan Reports Spike in Cyberattacks on State Employees, Citizens

Jerusalem, 14 July, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Baku (AZERTAC) – The State Service for Special Communications and Information Security of the Republic of Azerbaijan continues to conduct audits and monitoring on information security to protect state institutions from existing and potential threats.

The State Service told AZERTAC that despite the “Cyber Hygiene Project” implemented for employees of state institutions, the promotion of the application of the “Instructions on Ensuring Information Security”, as well as other awareness-raising measures, during the first half of this year, 95 employees of 47 state institutions became victims of hacker attacks due to non-compliance with cyber hygiene rules.

It should be noted that 16 percent of civil servants targeted by hackers were employees with administrative authority, which, in addition to causing serious concern, indicates that internal information security control in these state institutions is insufficient and that necessary steps have not been taken in this area. The State Service for Special Communications and Information Security has informed these state institutions to take appropriate measures.

In addition, citizens who do not comply with information security and personal cyber hygiene rules when using the Internet also become victims of hacker attacks. Such citizens become victims of hacker attacks and create conditions for hackers to obtain not only the information on their personal computers, but also their authentication (login, password) and personal data related to the electronic services of the state institutions they are users of. The number of citizens who were users of state services who became victims of hackers in the first half of 2025 was 6164.

“The State Service for Special Communications and Information Security once again reminds state institutions of the importance of strengthening internal information security control and connecting to a centralized antivirus system in order to organize reliable protection against growing cyber threats and strengthen personal cyber hygiene.”

The State Service for Special Communications and Information Security also recommends that citizens use antiviruses individually, including not clicking on suspicious links sent to protect against cyberattacks, and sending information about fake domains to the “blacklist.gov.az” platform, the State Service said in a statement.