Category: Technology

GCC nations have established themselves, of late, as leaders in cyber-readiness. Saudi Arabia was ranked second and the United Arab Emirates was fifth, in the International Telecommunication Union’s Global Cybersecurity Index of 2020. The UAE made particular strides, having leapt from 33rd in the 2019 edition of the index. And yet both Gulf nations saw spikes in cyber incidents during the pandemic. Some 88% of UAE respondents to a KPMG survey reported upticks in threat activity as a direct result of COVID-19, and Saudi Arabia was said to have suffered more than 7 million attacks in the first two months of 2021, most centered on the remote-access protocols used by WFH employees.