Kaspersky Lab’s Cyber Security Weekend for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa is taking place on April 26-29 in Lisbon, Portugal and brings together specialists from the company’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) and Global Product and Technology Marketing Department, an invited expert from EY, journalists and business guests. During the conference they discussed global and regional cyber threats and security trends, corporate IT issues, and what security measures are needed.
“At Kaspersky Lab we believe that to eliminate the risks brought by the Internet and new technologies a combination of factors is needed: comprehensive technologies, including those for critical infrastructures and high-risk industries; education of the general public and businesses; and law enforcement and international cooperation. A complacent attitude towards cyber security doesn’t only put money, data and reputation at risk, but also prompts the spread of cyber threats,” said Sergey Novikov, Deputy Director of GReAT, Kaspersky Lab.
Kaspersky Lab’s analysis of IT threats in the first quarter of 2015 indicates that in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region an average of 41% of users had security incidents related to local networks and removable media while 21% of users faced web-related threats.
Kaspersky Security Network cloud service statistics for January-March 2015 show that Egypt continues to have the highest number of users affected by local threats (50.5%), followed by Qatar (46%), Saudi Arabia (45.8%) and Turkey (44.6%). The highest numbers of web threat incidents were reported in Qatar (31% of KSN users faced these threats), UAE (29%), Turkey (25%) and Saudi Arabia (24%). Kenya, South Africa, Bahrain and Lebanon have somewhat lower threat levels: 14-18% of users affected by online threats and 33-37% by local ones.
Speaking about the threats facing organisations, experts referred to statistics from the 2014 Global Corporate IT Security Risks survey conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab: depending on their country, anywhere from a quarter to more than half of the organisations in the region said they faced viruses and other malware, spam, phishing and software vulnerabilities in the past year. Along with these threats businesses are also preoccupied with network intrusions and targeted attacks, DDoS, loss of data on mobile devices, file sharing and data leaks.
Raddad Ayoub, Partner, EMEIA Advisory Center, EY,shared the company’s expertise in his presentation about the realities and trends of corporate cyber security in the region. He commented: “Companies need to address cybercrime — which, like other threats has the potential to cause significant reputational and financial damage. In a recent EY study on cybercrime, we discovered that organisations are making progress on building the foundations of cyber security — and this progress is important. However, most respondents report having only a “moderate” level of maturity in their foundations. This clearly means that there is still a lot to do.”
“To get cyber security right, the first step is to get the foundations right. Given how much attention recent cyber-attacks have received, no one can claim they do not know the dangers; so there can be few excuses for organizations that are still not putting basic cybersecurity systems and processes in place. Once the foundation has been mastered, the next stage is to make your cybersecurity more dynamic and better aligned and integrated into key business processes. Without taking this crucial step, organisations remain vulnerable — particularly when they, their environment and the cyber threats they face are all changing.
And then comes the real opportunity: the chance to get ahead of cybercrime. By focusing your cyber security on the unknowns — the future and your business’s broader ecosystem — you can start building capabilities before they are needed and begin to prepare for threats before they arise,” he added.
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