Security in Qatar

Talhah Peerbhai published on
2 min, 292 words

Qatar's state news agency hacked (2017)

What did the attackers break into?

The attackers hacked into Qatar's state news agency.

How did the attackers break into it?

There isn't too much information surrounding this aside from Qatar saying an electronic gap on the Qatar News Agency website was exploited.

Who was impacted?

The Emir of Qatar was directly affected as he was falsely misquoted. The state of Qatar was also affected as it led to a blockade against Qatar.

How was it investigated?

The US security agency had sent out help to Qatar to inspect logs and seek out any evidences the attacker left behind. The FBI were also sent to help assist.

Qatar National Bank (2016)

What did the attackers break into?

The attackers broke into QNB's database which included information such as Date of birth, bank credentials, payment details and mobile numbers.

How did the attackers break into it?

Unfortunately there is not much information online but some possibilites include the database was not password protected or exposed to the internet, or the site was vulnerable to something such as SQL injection.

Who was impacted?

QNB's reputation was slightly affected and customers who had info leaked had to possibly change cards.

How was it investigated?

There is not enough information online about this. But an obvious possibility is that they had their CISO and heads in charge of security setup an investigation.

Sources:

Qatar News Agency Wikipedia
Qatar News Agency Reuters QNB Allegedly Hacked MiddleEastEye QNB 1.4gb archive leaked