Jordanian official says Royal Court among cyber attack targets this year

Cyber security agency records 900 strikes since starting operations in January

State-owned and private companies have been the targets of cyber attacks in Jordan. Bloomberg.

A Jordanian security official said on Sunday that the kingdom came under almost 900 cyber attacks this year.

Ahmad Mulhem, head of the Jordanian Centre for Cyber Security, said that since his agency started operating in January it recorded 897 attacks by “countries and groups” on private and government targets in Jordan.

Among them were security forces, the Royal Court, the Amman Stock Exchange and private and state-owned companies, Mr Mulhem said.

He said that 13 per cent of the perpetrators were linked to what he called terrorist organisations.

“External actors are trying constantly to target national networks and IT systems as well as citizens and private companies,” Mr Mulhem said.

He said some attacks have been “simple and not complicated", while others disrupted networks, which returned to operate normally "after clean-up".

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