THREAT IN THE CYBER WORLD
Guarding Your IT Systems
By Atique Naqvi | Dubai, UAE | Uploaded on the blog recently**
Cyber attacks have jumped in 2011 and 2012, and businesses in the region are increasing their IT budgets to guard systems more effectively.
Globally billions of dollars are lost every year due to loopholes in the data security mechanisms of businesses and weak guarding systems at personal computers. There have been several research reports indicating that when a business faces financial crunch, the first thing that goes out of the window is the budget of IT department.
The global economic crisis forced companies around the world to reduce their IT spending and this happened at a time when dark forces of the ‘world wide web’ swung into action and increased phishing and spamming attacks on computer networks.
In the GCC, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait are the top three countries in terms of cyber attacks. Global Internet security firm Symantec said Saudi Arabia is the most spammed countries in the world. About 85 percent of the Saudi email traffic is spam, it said. The worsening cyber security situation has forced governments to take concrete measures.
The UAE president signed a new cyber security law last month. Articles of the decree provide legal protection of privacy of all information published online, including all data, information, credit card numbers, bank account numbers and details as well as all online and electronic payment methods.
The decree protects privacy of information from any use whatsoever by electronic or IT means to forge or produce duplicates of credit cards or civil cards.
World Economic Forum in its Global Risks 2012 report has identified cyber attacks as one of the biggest risks for individuals and businesses as the world marches toward increased connectivity. “The impacts of crime, terrorism and war in the virtual world have yet to equal that of the physical world, but there is fear that this could change. Hyper-connectivity is a reality. With over five billion mobile phones coupled with internet connectivity and cloud-based applications, daily life is more vulnerable to cyber threats and digital disruptions.
“The related constellation of global risks in this case highlights that incentives are misaligned with respect to managing this global challenge. Online security is now considered a public good, implying an urgent need to encourage greater private sector engagement to reduce the vulnerability of key information technology systems,” said the report.
While significant material and human resources were required in the past to exercise political or economic influence on a global scale, borders have become permeable as power shifts from the physical to the virtual world, it said, adding a healthy digital space is needed to ensure stability in the world economy and balance of power.
One of the positive aspects of improving economic situation in the GCC would be an increase in IT spending in 2013. It’s need of the hour. Kaspersky in a report shared with TRENDS said cyber-threats are currently regarded as the second most dangerous risk by the majority of businesses, but companies need to invest more money to protect their business from IT threats. These findings emerged from a recent survey conducted by B2B International for Kaspersky Lab.
According to the survey, IT professionals are well aware of the dangers of cybercrime. But only 52 per cent of respondents in the GCC region in 2012 feel that they are more or less prepared for them. According to the survey, the main problem is money-related: 39 per cent of respondents indicated budget constraints and 51 per cent cited a significant degree of misunderstanding of IT security issues among those in charge of the purse strings which is a significantly higher figure in comparison with the rest of the world. Thus, it turns out that that the main problem for IT professionals is their inability to make their management understand just how important corporate protection against cyber-threats is.
The Global IT Security Risks survey, which was carried out this year, explored the opinions of IT security professionals all over the world about what they considered the major issues in their sphere.
As part of the survey, 3,300 senior IT professionals from 22 countries across the globe shared their views. All the respondents are actively involved in their companies’ decision-making processes, including IT security-related topics.
Research shows that cyber-security threats are becoming more diverse and frequent, and pose greater dangers than ever for businesses worldwide. According to half of those surveyed, cybercrime in its various forms is the second biggest threat to business. Its companies most often face malware, spam and unauthorized attempts to penetrate the system. What’s more important, in future, business surveyed anticipate concern about these threats growing yet further in significance – over the next two years surpassing even the fear of economic problems.
Chief Marketing Officer of Kaspersky Lab, Alexander Erofeev, said: “A typical modern business is based on an infrastructure of thousands of devices; including not just desktops but also employees’ own gadgets, corporate smartphones and laptops. Corporate culture is rapidly changing, with employees becoming increasingly active in social networking and using web resources as a means of exchanging corporate information.
“This offers enhanced flexibility, but also makes networks more vulnerable to cybercrime. We are concentrating on developing effective and easily managed security solutions that meet the requirements of this new age,” said in a statement.
Despite strong Internet security mechanisms, Internet users are losing billions of dollars. Symantec said about 1.5 million adults around the world become victims of cyber crime every day. Norton Cyber crime, one of the world’s largest consumer cybercrime organizations and a part of Symantec, said in its 2012 report that estimated direct costs associated with global consumer cyber crime to be $110bn over the past 12 months.
According to the Norton report, there has been an increase in “new” forms of cyber crime due to social networks. Most internet users take basic steps to protect themselves – such as deleting suspicious e-mail messages and taking care when providing personal details online. In addition, this year’s report also indicates that many online adults are unaware as to how some of the most common forms of cybercrime have evolved over the years and thus, have a difficult time recognizing how malware viruses function on their computers.
Director of Technology Services at Help AG, Nicolai Solling, told TRENDS that spamming and cyber attacks are not restricted to emails. “In 2011 and 2012, cyber criminals shifted their focus to social media platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter from emails.
“The hacking of social media pages of individuals and businesses has given rise to identity theft and even traditional crime. Privacy of several Hollywood stars and individuals have been invaded in the past two years as Facebook pages were hijacked by criminals.
“Most of us are using smartphones with apps such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, an unsuspecting user posts an update on social media network saying that he is having a candle light dinner with his beloved in a fancy restaurant, this means that nobody is at home. The web intruders can pass on the information to burglars, and this is one of the downsides of the fast communication technologies,” said Solling.
Spam and identity theft is a problem around the world and the Middle East is no exception. Dell SonicWall’s EMEA enterprise product marketing manager, Florian Malecki, said: “Companies should not consider themselves immune to attacks but should be vigilant and arm themselves against attacks hitting the region.
“Recently two oil and gas companies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia faced cyber attacks after its system was compromised. Outdated network security is not good enough in Middle Eastern companies and attacks on these companies should be a reminder that the latest in network security is essential. There is the belief that cyber attacks are a ‘western’ problem and this attitude needs to be revaluated.
“Whether a Fortune 500 company, small and medium business or a government organization, everyone is on the list of cyber thugs. A recent report suggested that over 90 per cent of email traffic is spam and enterprises are facing increasing threats from spam attacks,” said Malecki.
Speaking of the region’s near-term cyber challenges, Malecki said that 2012 had its share of web security problems and in 2013 issues like cybercrime and ‘hacktivists’ will become more predominant over the next few years, especially in the Gulf, which represents a prime area for targets due to its economic strength and usage of social media. “But if businesses take precautions to reinforce their defenses with high-tech security measures it may be avoided.”
By Atique Naqvi | Dubai, UAE | Uploaded on the blog recently**
 |
| Billions of dollars are lost due to cybercrime. |
Globally billions of dollars are lost every year due to loopholes in the data security mechanisms of businesses and weak guarding systems at personal computers. There have been several research reports indicating that when a business faces financial crunch, the first thing that goes out of the window is the budget of IT department.
The global economic crisis forced companies around the world to reduce their IT spending and this happened at a time when dark forces of the ‘world wide web’ swung into action and increased phishing and spamming attacks on computer networks.
In the GCC, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait are the top three countries in terms of cyber attacks. Global Internet security firm Symantec said Saudi Arabia is the most spammed countries in the world. About 85 percent of the Saudi email traffic is spam, it said. The worsening cyber security situation has forced governments to take concrete measures.
The UAE president signed a new cyber security law last month. Articles of the decree provide legal protection of privacy of all information published online, including all data, information, credit card numbers, bank account numbers and details as well as all online and electronic payment methods.
The decree protects privacy of information from any use whatsoever by electronic or IT means to forge or produce duplicates of credit cards or civil cards.
World Economic Forum in its Global Risks 2012 report has identified cyber attacks as one of the biggest risks for individuals and businesses as the world marches toward increased connectivity. “The impacts of crime, terrorism and war in the virtual world have yet to equal that of the physical world, but there is fear that this could change. Hyper-connectivity is a reality. With over five billion mobile phones coupled with internet connectivity and cloud-based applications, daily life is more vulnerable to cyber threats and digital disruptions.
“The related constellation of global risks in this case highlights that incentives are misaligned with respect to managing this global challenge. Online security is now considered a public good, implying an urgent need to encourage greater private sector engagement to reduce the vulnerability of key information technology systems,” said the report.
 |
| Gulf countries have increased IT spending. |
While significant material and human resources were required in the past to exercise political or economic influence on a global scale, borders have become permeable as power shifts from the physical to the virtual world, it said, adding a healthy digital space is needed to ensure stability in the world economy and balance of power.
One of the positive aspects of improving economic situation in the GCC would be an increase in IT spending in 2013. It’s need of the hour. Kaspersky in a report shared with TRENDS said cyber-threats are currently regarded as the second most dangerous risk by the majority of businesses, but companies need to invest more money to protect their business from IT threats. These findings emerged from a recent survey conducted by B2B International for Kaspersky Lab.
According to the survey, IT professionals are well aware of the dangers of cybercrime. But only 52 per cent of respondents in the GCC region in 2012 feel that they are more or less prepared for them. According to the survey, the main problem is money-related: 39 per cent of respondents indicated budget constraints and 51 per cent cited a significant degree of misunderstanding of IT security issues among those in charge of the purse strings which is a significantly higher figure in comparison with the rest of the world. Thus, it turns out that that the main problem for IT professionals is their inability to make their management understand just how important corporate protection against cyber-threats is.
The Global IT Security Risks survey, which was carried out this year, explored the opinions of IT security professionals all over the world about what they considered the major issues in their sphere.
As part of the survey, 3,300 senior IT professionals from 22 countries across the globe shared their views. All the respondents are actively involved in their companies’ decision-making processes, including IT security-related topics.
Research shows that cyber-security threats are becoming more diverse and frequent, and pose greater dangers than ever for businesses worldwide. According to half of those surveyed, cybercrime in its various forms is the second biggest threat to business. Its companies most often face malware, spam and unauthorized attempts to penetrate the system. What’s more important, in future, business surveyed anticipate concern about these threats growing yet further in significance – over the next two years surpassing even the fear of economic problems.
Chief Marketing Officer of Kaspersky Lab, Alexander Erofeev, said: “A typical modern business is based on an infrastructure of thousands of devices; including not just desktops but also employees’ own gadgets, corporate smartphones and laptops. Corporate culture is rapidly changing, with employees becoming increasingly active in social networking and using web resources as a means of exchanging corporate information.
“This offers enhanced flexibility, but also makes networks more vulnerable to cybercrime. We are concentrating on developing effective and easily managed security solutions that meet the requirements of this new age,” said in a statement.
Despite strong Internet security mechanisms, Internet users are losing billions of dollars. Symantec said about 1.5 million adults around the world become victims of cyber crime every day. Norton Cyber crime, one of the world’s largest consumer cybercrime organizations and a part of Symantec, said in its 2012 report that estimated direct costs associated with global consumer cyber crime to be $110bn over the past 12 months.
According to the Norton report, there has been an increase in “new” forms of cyber crime due to social networks. Most internet users take basic steps to protect themselves – such as deleting suspicious e-mail messages and taking care when providing personal details online. In addition, this year’s report also indicates that many online adults are unaware as to how some of the most common forms of cybercrime have evolved over the years and thus, have a difficult time recognizing how malware viruses function on their computers.
 |
| Criminals are targeting social media networks. |
Director of Technology Services at Help AG, Nicolai Solling, told TRENDS that spamming and cyber attacks are not restricted to emails. “In 2011 and 2012, cyber criminals shifted their focus to social media platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter from emails.
“The hacking of social media pages of individuals and businesses has given rise to identity theft and even traditional crime. Privacy of several Hollywood stars and individuals have been invaded in the past two years as Facebook pages were hijacked by criminals.
“Most of us are using smartphones with apps such as Facebook and Twitter. For example, an unsuspecting user posts an update on social media network saying that he is having a candle light dinner with his beloved in a fancy restaurant, this means that nobody is at home. The web intruders can pass on the information to burglars, and this is one of the downsides of the fast communication technologies,” said Solling.
Spam and identity theft is a problem around the world and the Middle East is no exception. Dell SonicWall’s EMEA enterprise product marketing manager, Florian Malecki, said: “Companies should not consider themselves immune to attacks but should be vigilant and arm themselves against attacks hitting the region.
“Recently two oil and gas companies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia faced cyber attacks after its system was compromised. Outdated network security is not good enough in Middle Eastern companies and attacks on these companies should be a reminder that the latest in network security is essential. There is the belief that cyber attacks are a ‘western’ problem and this attitude needs to be revaluated.
“Whether a Fortune 500 company, small and medium business or a government organization, everyone is on the list of cyber thugs. A recent report suggested that over 90 per cent of email traffic is spam and enterprises are facing increasing threats from spam attacks,” said Malecki.
Speaking of the region’s near-term cyber challenges, Malecki said that 2012 had its share of web security problems and in 2013 issues like cybercrime and ‘hacktivists’ will become more predominant over the next few years, especially in the Gulf, which represents a prime area for targets due to its economic strength and usage of social media. “But if businesses take precautions to reinforce their defenses with high-tech security measures it may be avoided.”
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