From: Gulf Daily News

By AVINASH SAXENA

MANAMA:   Bahrain information technology (IT) professionals feel the region is a prime target for cyber criminals, research has found.

In a survey conducted by IT solutions provider Gulf Business Machines (GBM), 71 per cent of respondents from Bahrain were of the opinion that cyber security risks were potentially increasing with social media becoming more available within companies.

A key finding was that 33pc of incidents were staff-related.

The survey also revealed that 27pc of respondents said their companies had not been conducting regular proactive screenings to ensure that their IT infrastructure and critical data were protected.

However, survey respondents also expressed a false sense of security with 61pc believing that the number of successful attacks would decrease in the next 12 months.

“Despite the fact that companies are becoming more aware of IT security issues, they are still not taking enough action against potential cyber attacks,” said Bahrain Business Machines (BBM) general manager Abdulla Ishaq.

“A third of the companies polled spend up to 10pc of their IT budget on security.

“We are expecting to see this number increase in the future,” he added.

BBM is GBM’s Bahrain branch.  Founded in 1990, GBM is the sole distributor for IBM – excluding selected IBM products and services – throughout the GCC, except for Saudi Arabia.

According to Bahrain-based information and communications technology expert Dr Jassim Haji, social media usage is one of the most evolving practices related to IT in the GCC region.

“Organisations are trying to catch up with the developments in the social media landscape on one hand and the growing governmental interests on the other,” Dr Haji said.

“Like any other security incident, the effective way to minimise the adverse effects of social media is to provide awareness to the users and enforcement of strong policies.

“Although the GCC region is a prime target for hackers and crackers, contrary to the US and Europe environments, the motive behind these attacks is mostly related to ‘hack-tivism’ and not cyber crime,” he added.

Dr Haji said the occurrence and effect of security incidents can be minimised by incorporating awareness, enforcement and assessments in IT-related practices. “Security assessments should also be accompanied with a mature risk management approach, adequate scoping and planning of the assessments, rigorous follow-ups and also keeping in touch with the larger security fraternity to get an update on the current security threats and trends.

“Security is an expensive initiative and requires periodic investments from the organisation,” he added.