Olimjon Mirzayev, Director of the Republican Cybersecurity Center, addressed the forum “Digital State: A Unified Approach, Modern Governance and New Opportunities for Citizens” during ICT Week Uzbekistan, outlining the country’s cybersecurity goals under the 2026–2030 strategy. He described national cybersecurity as one of the fundamental pillars of the state’s digital infrastructure.
“A state without a secure digital ecosystem will ultimately lose its information and technological sovereignty,” Mirzayev said. He noted that the March presidential decree “On Defining the Cybersecurity Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan and Improving the System for Preventing Cybercrime” was the most significant development in the field. The decree approved the 2026–2030 strategy, allowing government bodies to receive outsourcing services from the private sector. Furthermore, commercial banks and payment systems were made directly liable to customers for damage caused by cybercrimes.
Mirzayev highlighted practical measures: special cybersecurity departments have been established in the central offices of several government agencies, a CERT/CBU center monitoring the banking sector is operational, a new faculty of digital forensics has been opened at the Law Enforcement Academy, a cyber polygon for simulating real attacks has been set up at the Ministry of Internal Affairs Academy, and cybersecurity clubs for youth have been organized in the regions. According to him, anti-fraud programs in the banking system stopped illegal transfers worth 462 billion soums in real time in the first half of 2026 alone.
In recent years, the number and complexity of cyberattacks have increased significantly. “Today we clearly observe that globally, cyberattacks are emerging as a highly automated and systematic industry. Surveys conducted by the World Economic Forum and other international organizations in 2025–2026 clearly demonstrated these global trends. In particular, 94% of respondents identified AI as the main threat in cybersecurity, while 73% reported suffering from social engineering and fraud. According to NSA data, the public administration sector has become the main target, accounting for about 38% of all attacks,” Mirzayev said.
According to him, the time for intruders to penetrate a network and spread a cyberattack to other systems has shrunk to 29 minutes. “Attackers using autonomous agents automatically generate targeted phishing, deepfakes and malicious code within seconds. At the same time, AI systems themselves are becoming targets. According to Avast classification, risks such as injecting hidden commands into an AI model, poisoning data during model training, and manipulating autonomous agents with broad permissions are among the most pressing issues today,” the head of the Cybersecurity Center said.
According to official data, over the past five years the number of cybercrimes in Uzbekistan has increased nearly 11-fold, exceeding 62,000 cases. 82% of fraud cases were committed using information technology. “To stabilize the situation and take systemic measures, government agencies and departments have introduced modern technological integrations and innovative monitoring systems developed by local manufacturers. These systems enable early detection of cyber threats, real-time elimination and response,” Mirzayev said.
According to 2025–2026 data, critical information infrastructure facilities in energy, manufacturing, telecommunications, finance and education remain targets of cyber threats. “Network attacks on web resources of state and economic management bodies increased by 427% compared to the same period last year. The number of cyberattacks on information systems of government bodies from foreign IP addresses is growing. Of all cyberattacks, 21.3% involve botnet networks, more than 56% involve viral activity, and 22.7% are attempts to use other types of cyberattacks. Within the continuous monitoring of websites in the uz domain zone, the share of cybersecurity incidents detected this year increased by 570% compared to last year,” Mirzayev said.
Through early detection and warning systems, more than 261 million malicious network requests were automatically blocked, over 1.72 billion malicious network requests were neutralized in the networks of organizations integrated into centralized protection systems, more than 50,000 illegal banking operations were stopped, and the leakage of personal data of nearly 1.5 million citizens was prevented.
Mirzayev emphasized that the logic of cyber warfare could change entirely in the future. “By 2030, we can predict that the logic of struggle in cyberspace will change completely. We must be prepared for an era where autonomous AI agents adapt to defense systems in real time, for post-quantum threats and complex attacks orchestrated through supply chains,” he said. Under the national strategy, Uzbekistan has set clear tasks: integrating threat-predicting algorithms into monitoring systems, introducing a national standard compliant with international requirements, and expanding digital forensics capabilities.
In the legislative sphere, work will continue in 2026 to categorize critical information infrastructures by risk level and introduce a procedure for secure online software updates. Internet backbone providers will be obligated to filter dangerous traffic. By the end of the year, a draft law will be developed establishing liability for officials indifferent to security requirements. By 2027, national SOC (Security Operations Center) standards will be approved, and multi-factor authentication in public services will become mandatory.
The planned organizational measures will cover all levels of society and the state: by the end of 2026, proposals will be prepared to improve cooperation between the public and private sectors and to establish cyber control in the Armed Forces system. Work will also continue on introducing cyber hygiene lessons in schools and signing international agreements on the automatic recognition of foreign security certificates in Uzbekistan. Local manufacturers of information security tools will receive systematic support.
“As the logical and largest continuation of these plans, by the end of 2029, Security Operations Centers (SOCs) that automatically predict and respond to cyberattacks will be fully operational across the country. Supporting our local vendors based on studying advanced international experience will remain our priority, and of course, to counter global threats, we will further strengthen cooperation with international organizations on exchanging data on current cyber threats. We can build a secure and stable digital future only by relying on technological independence, engaging advanced technologies for proactive defense and expanding international cooperation,” Olimjon Mirzayev concluded.
Source: www.gazeta.uz