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second most targeted
country in the world
for cybercrime,
costing the Emirates
an estimated US$1.4
billion per year.
Evidently, there
Hassan El-
is a strong need
Banna, Business
for organisations
Development
to implement risk
Manager, META,
Genetec
assessment. Risk
assessment tests
should be conducted on a recurring basis in
order to catch vulnerabilities, inefficiencies
and non-compliances with standards for
security policies. If an organisation does not
assess and manage risks, they are vulnerable
to attacks.
Today, technologies are continuously
evolving so your organisation must assume
that cyberattacks will evolve too. Taking time
to implement a cybersecurity risk assessment
to educate your workforce and prevent
malicious attacks is vital.
in the Middle East alone has reached
US$4.94 million.
In addition, cyberattacks are now targeting
IOT devices such as video surveillance,
access control, alarms and communications.
According to industry analyst firm, Gartner,
by 2020 more than 25% of cyberattacks
in enterprises will involve IoT devices. And
yes, that includes the very devices that are
supposed to help keep us safe. That alone
could give businesses a false sense of security.
Rajesh Ganesan, Vice President –
ManageEngine
Of course, every region has its own set of
cybersecurity threats and challenges and
hence has to formulate a specific plan to
manage cyber-risks based on their financial,
political and cultural demographics. For
example, the relatively high concentration
“
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THE RELATIVELY
HIGH
CONCENTRATION
OF OIL AND GAS
COMPANIES IN
THE GCC REGION
MAKES THEM
AN EXCLUSIVE
TARGET FOR
HACKERS LIKE
ORGANISED
RANSOMWARE
GROUPS.
become one of the most digitally connected.
In the same vein, while the states are
trying to bring about legislative measures
to counter cyberthreats, arriving at a
common technical and legal framework and
implementing it across the region has been
a challenge. This has a profound impact on
the companies of the region too.
Cyberattacks are no longer simply a
technology issue. They affect the entire
business and can have a huge financial
impact on an organisation. The costs can
include cleaning up and restoring a network
as well as re-establishing trust with partners
and customers alike. According to a 2017
research study conducted by the Ponemon
Institute, the average cost of a data breach
TAKING TIME TO
IMPLEMENT A
CYBERSECURITY
RISK
ASSESSMENT TO
EDUCATE YOUR
WORKFORCE
AND PREVENT
MALICIOUS
ATTACKS IS VITAL.
“
TRENDING
Rajesh Ganesan, Vice President –
ManageEngine
of oil and gas companies in the GCC region
makes them an exclusive target for hackers
like organised ransomware groups.
Due to the enormity of the financial and
operational impact it can make, such
groups work with high levels of motivation
to leverage the same type of attacks
across multiple companies. To combat this,
companies must get their act together and
learn from each other to build strong layers
of security. Similarly, the GCC countries
are also some of the pioneers of having
digitisation as an important government
policy which is driving the entire region to
And the cultural aspect plays a critical
role too as the GCC region has been most
welcoming to many expats, who in fact
outnumber the locals in some states. The
multiculturalism brings many advantages
but also paves way to multiple threats in the
form of residents who are either temporary
or have their own jurisdiction. It has been
well-established that while the number
of incidents because of insiders is always
typically low, the consequence of any insider
attack has always been enormous and
catastrophic. Bringing together people of
varied culture and approach to handling
sensitive business information is a top
challenge in any company’s list.
While technologies evolve very fast, the
adoption is caught up globally, fairly easily,
and the application of technology is getting
to be standardised. In addition to standard
information security procedures, CISOs should
also focus on the strong regional factors that
could pose strong cybersecurity threats. n
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