DUBAI: Cyber criminals have targeted an organization in UAE 295 times per week on an average in the last six months, a report by cyber security solutions company Check Point Software Technologies Ltd said.
The report said most impacted industry is the finance and banking sector with 407 weekly attacks per organization, followed by hospitality and the retail industry with 118 and 107 weekly attacks respectively.
The increased use of mobiles during global lockdowns has also driven growth in banking and information-stealing mobile Trojans, it said.
Most organizations had at least one employee download a malicious mobile application, which threatens their networks and data.
The most common vulnerability exploit type in UAE was Remote Code Execution, which impacted 62 percent of businesses.
Information Disclosure vulnerability exploits impact around 59 percent of the organizations.
Trickbot which is a botnet and banking trojan that steals financial details, account credentials, and personally identifiable information, as well as spread within a network and drop ransomware, has been the most prevalent malware in the UAE since the beginning of the year, impacting 14 percent of organizations as of June 2021 with a global impact of 7 percent.
xHelper which is an Android malware that mainly shows intrusive popup ads and notification spam has taken the second spot impacting 4 percent of the organizations, as Floxif makes its way out of the list in June.
Ram Narayanan, Country Manager, Check Point Software Technologies, Middle East said today’s security landscape is more complex and cyber threats have become more strenuous to determine and remedy.
“Having a complete view and understanding of the network can prevent cyber-attacks. We are now experiencing a ‘ransomware pandemic’ and see attack after attack dominate headlines,” he said.
“Businesses need to be aware of the risks and ensure adequate solutions are in place. With the right technologies in place, even the most advanced attacks can be prevented without disrupting the normal business flow,” he said.