UAE enterprises must act now to avoid financial and reputational costs from cyber attacks

"Proactive action costs a fraction of the bill for responding to and recovering from a successful breach," said Joshua Knight, EVP Cyber Defence at Digital14. "The pandemic has acted as a force multiplier for existing cyber threats, while giving birth to a whole new set of cyber risks. While we have been shifting work practices to new, remote ways of working and relying on personal devices, threat actors have been watching and have switched tactics to exploit this new reality," he explained. ...

"Proactive action costs a fraction of the bill for responding to and recovering from a successful breach," said Joshua Knight, EVP Cyber Defence at Digital14. "The pandemic has acted as a force multiplier for existing cyber threats, while giving birth to a whole new set of cyber risks. While we have been shifting work practices to new, remote ways of working and relying on personal devices, threat actors have been watching and have switched tactics to exploit this new reality," he explained.

The UAE has witnessed a 250% increase in cyberattacks in 2020, prompting the UAE Government's Head of Cybersecurity to describe the pandemic as a 'cyber pandemic'. Digital14's research revealed an exponential surge in phishing and ransomware with 1.1 million phishing attacks in 2020.

"Traditional cyber security approaches are no longer enough. We must augment our security policies with always-on cyber protection as an ongoing process that steadily strengthens and improves enterprise security, rather than a one-time solution," Knight said.

"Traditional perimeter-based network defence, for example, is obsolete. Not only does the perimeter no longer exist in our newly connected environments, but organisations must also recognise that their networks have most likely already been breached," Knight added.

UAE Threat Landscape 2021 highlights

Digital14's Cyber Resilience Report: UAE Threat Landscape 2021, builds on its work with many organisations to defend against targeted cyber-attacks in 2020.  Cyber defence experts evaluated and analysed multiple digital assets in the UAE to give an accurate, in-depth understanding of the country's current threat landscape.

The report reveals that nation-state cyber threat actors have become more active between 2017 and 2020, growing in number, becoming more sophisticated and increasingly harder to identify. The UAE and the wider Middle East are constant targets of nation-state activities driven by economic and political motivation.

Industry estimates put the cost of a data breach in the Middle East as the second highest in the world at USD6.52 million on average in 2020, just after the United States. Such a breach can inflict short-term financial damage, and affect an organisation's operations and compliance, while causing reputational damage over the long term, resulting in lost business and competitive disadvantages.

Vulnerability exploitation, the use of previously stolen valid accounts, and supply chain attacks were other prominent threat vectors in 2020.  

Key findings of the report include (references in report):

Top cybersecurity recommendations for UAE organisations

Many of the most common causes of cybersecurity threats seen by Digital14 are relatively easy to address and defend proactively with established best practices.  Digital14's cyber defence experts recommend organisations take eight proactive actions now to avoid the costs responding to and recovering from a successful breach:

Digital14's Cyber Resilience Report: UAE Threat Landscape 2021 provides an accurate, in-depth understanding of the country's current threat landscape with actionable insights and recommendations here.

About Digital14

Delivering trust in a world where cyber risks are a constant threat, Digital14 guides clients on their journeys to reach unprecedented heights and navigate what lies ahead in tomorrow's digital frontier. Digital14, established in 2019, is part of ADQ, one of the region's largest holding companies with a diverse portfolio of major enterprises spanning key sectors of Abu Dhabi's non-oil economy. Being based in the regional and global innovation hub of Abu Dhabi, this provides the ideal platform for Digital14 to accelerate digital advancement and cyber resilience solutions via robust, end-to-end solutions. Whether it is enjoying the freedoms of a protected internet, secure transactions or safe communications – we Protect, Transform, and Nurture today so that everyone can flourish with the freedom to achieve their potential, tomorrow.

For more information, visit https://digital14.com

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