Senior management need of hour to fight cybercrime

OUR CORRESPONDENT / Emirates Business

Cyber threats have emerged as one of the main maladies that UAE’s enterprises are facing at this moment. Not only IT companies but also conventional industries like retail, logistics and even manufacturing are bearing the brunt of cyber threats.
In one of its recent cyber security poll, DarkMatter, a leading IT-giant of the region, deduces that nearly 48 percent of the UAE respondents feel that their organisations do not have a senior management executive assigned to oversee cyber security, while 46 percent said that their
organisations did not have a board-level representative responsible for cyber security.
“Raising awareness regarding the real and evolving threat of cyber-attacks is imperative in any modern, digital society. It is not about fear-mongering, it is about understanding what is at risk when entities and people operate in a connected online environment; what threat actors
may be present and what they are
in search of; and what steps can be taken to reduce vulnerabilities
or mitigate threats,” said Faisal Al Bannai, Chief Executive Officer of DarkMatter.
Statistics are extracted from a poll conducted by DarkMatter during the Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC) 2016 held in Dubai, at which the company was the Cyber Security Innovation Partner. DarkMatter was able to poll the answers of over 200 information and communication technology (ICT) visitors present at the event, with the aim of the exercise being to identify attitudes held by enlightened ICT professionals towards the role of cyber security in modern, highly digitised economies, and the state of their organisations’ cyber threat resilience.
“It is highly encouraging to note that almost 70 percent of respondents said they would trust a UAE-based company to provide their organisation with end-to-end cyber security solutions, as this is precisely what DarkMatter is here to do,” added Al Bannai.
“We combine tier one cyber security experts located in the UAE, drawn from around the world, with trusted relationships with governments, and cutting-edge research and development undertaken right here in the country,” pointed out Al Bannai.
The poll identified that 23 percent of respondents believe that their organisations have been victim to an internal cyber security breach, while 32 percent believe their organisations have fallen victim to an external attack. This suggests external threats pose a greater threat to
organisations’ digital assets than
internal ones, with a further poll result indicating 46 percent of respondents believe cyber security breaches are most often the result of human factors.
DarkMatter is looking to secure digital infrastructure for nations, businesses, and individuals and while the expectation is that cyber threats will persist, the company advises entities to assume a state of breach, in order to establish the
necessary strategic and tactical posture to guard against and mitigate cyber risks.
However, challenges still exist given 34 percent of respondents said if their organisation was to experience a cybersecurity incident, which they did not believe it possessed sufficient network monitoring capabilities to identify the breach in a timely fashion. DarkMatter is leveraging this experience in the wider market as it looks to serve regional and international clients. The company provides a complete portfolio of cyber security solutions.