The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.
Ritika Sharma / Emirates Business
As we advance towards technically intertwined work environment, it is imperative to be informed and alert about the possible cyber threats and the misuse of social media, UAE cyber experts warn.
According to ‘Global Economic Crime Survey 2016: Middle East’ report by pwc, cybercrime has been cited as the second most reported economic crime affecting 30 percent of the Middle East organisations.
In the wake of this alarming situation, Dubai Customs and General Directorate of Dubai Police Al Ameen Service organised a workshop themed around cyber extortion and the effect of spreading rumours via social media. Aiming towards having well-informed employees regarding the illicit means of cyber-blackmail and the extents of vulnerability that should be fortified, the workshop was addressed by Abdulla Lashkari from Dubai Police.
“The hosting of this workshop comes in line with Dubai Customs keenness to ensure an optimal and up-to-date security awareness of its employees for better protecting social security and better honing their social media skills and immunity against cybercrimes, “ said Sheikha Al Ghafri, acting director of Customs Training Center.
IT experts say that cyber security threats are growing in intensity and scale across the region. In a survey conducted by global Application Delivery Networking leader F5 Networks in 2015, eight out of 10 respondents (82 percent) said their organisation is vulnerable to cybercrime and 79 percent admitted that it is more difficult than ever to protect their organisations from security threats.
This well-anticipated workshop also highlighted the mechanisms that could be effectively opted against cyber offenses involving financial and social extortion
In his interactive lecture, Lashkari outlined how to make optimum use of social media platforms while guarding one against cyber extortionists. Moreover, he strongly emphasised upon the need for reading the privacy statement of smart mobile apps cautiously in order to ensure better decision making on how to protect personal data. Also the pwc report states, that most companies are still not adequately prepared for or even understand the risks faced and that only 33 percent of Middle East organisations have a cyber-incident response plan.