UAE companies urged to remain vigilant on cyber attacks

UAE cybersecurity authorities are cautioning businesses to remain vigilant amid the rise in cyber attacks, particularly during the US-Iran conflict. Last week, the UAE faced 640,000 cyber attacks, according to Jans D’Hert, a cybersecurity expert at the Sans Institute. D’Hert noted that organisations are still making basic errors from a decade ago and should learn from past incidents to fortify their systems instead of merely recovering.

He emphasized that mere compliance does not equate to security as attacks have surged. Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, head of the UAE Cyber Security Council, attributed the increase to Iran, which he said is among the primary perpetrators. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is suspected to be behind many of the attacks.

The most recent count was slightly lower than the peak of 800,000 attacks recorded in April, but remains substantially higher than previous periods. Cyber resilience should be integrated into long-term planning regardless of geopolitical circumstances, according to Amer Sharaf, CEO of the Cyber Security Systems and Services Sector at Dubai Electronic Security Centre.

Critical information infrastructure requires special attention. The UAE has faced attacks targeting energy, oil and gas, electricity, water, government systems, and financial services, but proactive detection and containment have been successful. The UAE Cyber Security Council reported that national teams thwarted attacks on aviation, energy, and education systems in August.

Positive Technologies' study revealed that the UAE was the target in 35% of all attacks in the region.

Government agencies faced the highest frequency of attacks, followed by sector-agnostic and industrial sector targets, highlighting the increasing role of cyber attacks during geopolitical conflicts. Critical infrastructure, such as oil, gas, electricity, internet, power stations, data centres, and water management, is considered the most attractive target due to the potential far-reaching consequences.

AI is being exploited by attackers to expedite techniques that once required manual effort, according to Dr Sharaf. While AI also enhances defensive capabilities, awareness remains the first line of defence against the majority of cyber threats that originate from user errors.