Cybersecurity • Forum

The pandemic created a rise in cyber attacks and these companies stepped up to assist in protecting companies and individuals from new threats.

Osman Khan COO, I(TS)2 - IT SECURITY TRAINING & SOLUTIONS

DURING THE PANDEMIc threat actors had a field day with attacks rising manifold. This was primarily because they had extra time on their other hands, coupled with the fact that employees were accessing corporate services in an insecure manner. In organizations that were not previously used to doing any kind of remote working, all users were potentially accessing corporate data through VPNs, which may not be securely implemented, patched, or protected with multi-factor authentication. In addition, employees were using insecure means of sharing company data via social media channels. It is important to understand that threat actors only need one vulnerability to exploit. We therefore advocate organizations take a holistic approach to security by embracing security by design, building with security in mind, defense in depth, deploy multiple security controls, and move to a zero-trust architecture, moving from a “trust-but-verify” paradigm to “verify and then trust.”

Rasheed Alodah COUNTRY MANAGING DIRECTOR, TREND MICRO SAUDI ARABIA

WE HAVE been hearing for years that companies from all sectors are looking at digital transformation. The coronavirus crisis has changed how companies look at digital transformation. What we used to do in years is now being done now in two weeks. Providing services on such a scale is challenging; however, we are happy to see that our customers are now more mature and are prioritizing security above everything else. As more people are working from home, this has created loops, problems, and blind spots that nobody was paying much attention to in the past. Attackers have also changed their tactics and methodology. At the beginning of the pandemic, we received an increasing number of calls to provide anti-virus solutions. In fact, we have been giving out our anti-virus solution for free since last year as our way to support the community. In 2020 alone, Trend Micro solutions detected and blocked more than 100 million email threats and prevented over 7 million malware attacks across the Gulf region. This shows hackers are getting smarter, which is why we must improve our cybersecurity systems and invest in the right technology.

Eyad Ismail Hashash GENERAL DIRECTOR, HAMI- ADVANCED ICT DIGITAL SECURITY CO

WHEN WE came up with a business continuity management (BCM) solution, we wanted to bring people and data together so that we could ensure business continuity, and we first came up with it following the September 11 events. In order to raise awareness and educate the market, we did many conferences, roadshows, and conference participations with the company. We taught people about business impact analysis (BIA) to show them how they can be impacted by natural disasters and how they can manage the process. We do crisis simulations for top, mid, and lower management. For example, we have red and blue teams; the red team tries to attack, and the blue team comprises the people inside the company. We do exercises with our clients to see how we can react and work together to respond to crises. At the moment, we do not have competitors in the market that can provide what we can. We may not be a large company, but we are more efficient than some of the biggest companies out there that are only providing the solutions. It is important to protect not only oneself, but also the supply chain and third parties.