A study conducted by PricewaterhouseC-
oopers, a firm concerned with global eco-
nomic crimes, showed that banks were
an increasingly desirable target for cyber
terrorists and hackers. As many as 39 per
cent of the respondents who represented
the banking sector pointed out that they
were victims of cybercrimes, compared
with 17 per cent in other industries.
According to the study, the most common
cyber threats in the region target applica-
tions, systems and networks. The threats
apply also to mobile devices, storage de-
vices and third party’s mobile data.
One of the recent examples of major cy-
ber threats in the Middle East Region is
what happened in 2012 when two major
oil and gas companies were the subject of
cyber-attacks that caused widespread dis-
ruption to tens of thousands of computers.
Alain Penel, Fortinet regional vice pres-
ident-Middle East, said: “Threats are
getting more sophisticated and financial
services firms are susceptible to many
advanced attacks.” He pointed out that
a lot of information security firms in the
region were rethinking their information
security strategies and replacing their tra-
ditional firewalls to meet the increasing re-
quirements of data and information while
tackling the growing number of complex
threats.
Joakim Sundberg, security solutions ar-
chitect at F5, said: “Financial organiza-
tions in the Middle East and the world
have recently had to deal with various
threats of a devastating effect that have
urged them to rethink their network pro-
tection measures.”
The UAE has tightened its cybersecurity
net and has thus become a leader in this
area in both the region and the world.
As it was very serious about cybersecurity,
the UAE ranked first in the GCC countries
and 4th worldwide in 2012, according to
a report issued by Switzerland’s Interna-
tional Institute for Management Develop-
ment, which showed that the UAE jumped
from its 35th place to rank 4th worldwide
in 2011
Trixie Loh Mirmand, senior vice-president
exhibitions and event management Dubai
World Trade Centre, said the UAE man-
aged to be in the lead in the Middle East
in the field of information security develop-
ment owing to its keenness on confront-
ing all the threats faced by the emerging
economies.
UAE is leader
in tightening cybersecurity net worldwide
Companies are
rethinking infor-
mation secu-
rity strategy to
avoid danger
Banks are desirable target for cyber
terrorists and hackers..
Applications, systems and networks
are most vulnerable to threats
Fortinet:
9
August
2014
