In November, multiple government ministries and thousands of government owned computers were hacked with the primary aim of erasing data, and this event has highlighted the flaws in the cyber security systems across the Middle East
A huge cyber attack took place in November were attackers aimed to erase data and destroy computers in a number of government ministries, across thousands of computers. To date, no one attacker or attacking group has come forward to claim responsibility for the attacks, but the malware used was identical to the malware that was used in 2012 at the Saudi Aramco attacks, which destroyed 35,000 PCs within hours.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers released a report in March stating that the Middle East was the home of the world's costliest cyber attacks. 'The results of the survey show that in the Middle East a large proportion of the companies also suffer bigger losses than their global counterparts.'
PwC argue that many Middle Eastern companies, while they do invest in security technology, such as insurance, the people, processes and governance are not in place and are required. PwC claimed that this gave users a 'false sense of security.'
For many companies in the Middle East, processes are needed to be put in place, with all players taking a role in ensuring security is high and continued constantly. In locations such as oil platforms, it is imperative that cyber health and safety measures, are as routine as industry health and safety measures, such as wearing a hard hard on a rig. With the potential that pocket devices hold today, it is expected that mobile phones and handheld gaming consoles are to be banned from areas with a sensitive data transfers in order to prevent cyber attacks happening in the region.
