Committee to Protect Journalists Calls on Kazakh Government to Investigate Cyber Attacks on Media

The Committee to Protect Journalists has announced that Kazakhstan's authorities should thoroughly investigate the recent wave of cyber attacks on independent media, reports Orda.kz. 

The organization believes that holding those responsible for said cyber attacks accountable is necessary.

According to CPJ, well-known independent media, including the KazTAG, as well as other popular media outlets such as AIRAN and Obozhayu, were subjected to DDoS attacks and planned mass complaints about media accounts on social networks. This led to pages being blocked. 

The attacks, which have targeted well-known independent media including news agency KazTAG, and popular social media-based outlets like AIRAN and Obozhayu, included distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks and blocking of outlets’ social media accounts through orchestrated mass complaints, causing media to lose access to their audiences and incurring heavy financial costs, those journalists told CPJ,  CPJ reported.

CPJ states that the latest wave follows cyber attacks and physical attacks on independent journalists in Kazakhstan, which took place in late 2022 and early 2023. 

According to Adil Soz, there were 56 cyber attacks on the media and journalists in 2023, while in 2022 there were 37.

CPJ has also condemned the Kazakh authorities' recent decision not to issue accreditation to Radio Azattyq journalists. The organization called on officials to allow this media to work freely.

The mass denial of accreditation to the outlet’s journalists by authorities on such contrived grounds is deeply concerning and seriously undermines President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev’s stated commitment to freedom of the press, said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan has not issued accreditation to 36 correspondents of Radio Azattyq. The head of Azattyq's Kazakh edition told Orda.kz that the reasons for the refusal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in accreditation do not stand up to criticism.

Original Author: Alina Yesenalina

DISCLAIMER: This is a translated piece. The text has been modified, the content is the same. Please refer to the original piece in Russian for accuracy.