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Organisations need better protection against deadly cyber attacks

Dubai - Securing the digital infrastructure in a distributed working environment is a key focus area for 71% of Gulf organisations

Organisations across the UAE and the GCC need better protection practices against the rising tide of cyber attacks that were recorded during the Covid-19 pandemic, experts said.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has altered the risk profile and attack vectors as a number of organisations have migrated to Work-From-Home (WFH) practices,” said Anil John Titus, manager – Sales Engineering at Commvault MESAT. “With this, we have seen an increase in security and ransomware protection issues, including new challenges around compliance, data sovereignty and information management.”

Enterprises in the region, he said, have also noticed force majeure clauses in their service contracts being invoked, leading to increased focus around multi-cloud and DR/service availability technologies. “At Commvault, we have seen an increased appetite for investment in intelligent data management systems as organisations realise the importance of protecting and managing their data amid the current climate. We are working closely with private organisations and government entities including Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality and most recently Department of Digital Ajman amongst others to protect their data and combat cybercrime effectively.”

Gulf Business Machines’ (GBM) ninth edition of its annual cybersecurity report also found that risk priorities have changed for organisations in the Gulf due to the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the report, one in two Gulf organisations reported an increase in the number of attacks on their digital infrastructure. The surveyed organisations also highlighted that securing data has become essential to building trust with customers, with 84 per cent of those surveyed planning to invest in data security over the next year.

In order to ensure business continuity during the pandemic, securing the digital infrastructure in a distributed working environment is a key focus area for 71 per cent of Gulf organisations. With the imminent availability of 5G, cloud adoption acceleration, and application explosion, data growth will also further accelerate. Data discovery and classification have been identified as the initial steps organisations need to take on the data security journey, however this is a major challenge and weakness for almost one out of every two organisations surveyed.

Hani Nofal, VP of Digital Infrastructure Solutions at GBM, said: “This year, the sudden unexpected shift to a distributed workforce led organisations to accelerate their digital transformation efforts to meet customers and operational agility needs. As a young and tech-savvy region, we have an opportunity to leverage technology to soften the impact of the economic downturn and expedite the recovery.”

“But, with this comes a new threat landscape which requires organisations to invest in new technologies and processes that ensure a holistic approach to security,” he added. “The key learning for organisations this year is that their rapidly expanding digital footprint, coupled with the continuously growing threat landscape has highlighted the need for security to be a key discussion in the boardroom.”

rohma@khaleejtimes.com