Digital criminals won’t stop targeting the Middle East. I’ve seen numerous attack campaigns targeting this region come to the surface in 2019 alone. Back in April, I remember FireEye discovered that bad actors behind the TRITON custom attack framework had infiltrated a second critical infrastructure organization. That’s less than two years after the company spotted the first TRITON attack where malefactors used TRITON to disrupt a critical infrastructure organization in the Middle East. Several months later, I learned about how Dragos had spotted a new threat group called “HEXANE” targeting oil and gas companies in the Middle East as well as telecommunications providers in the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa.
I think it’s important to point out that cyber-attacks could have resulted from a variety of weaknesses. Not all employees are familiar with phishing and other digital threats, for instance. Bad actors can also exploit a variety of software bugs. DarkMatter confirmed as much in its Cyber Security Report: June 2019 when it found that approximately 90 percent of UAE-based enterprises exhibited outdated software, credential problems in the form of weak/exposed passwords and insecure protocols. More than half of surveyed organizations also suffered from unsupported software, poor configurations and inadequate network configurations.
So where does that leave us?
Organizations in the Middle East and Africa need to take the proper steps to protect themselves. That’s why Thales looks forward to GITEX, the biggest technology show in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. This year is particularly exciting, as Thales will advance its unrivaled portfolio of digital identity and security solutions with the addition of several new tools. These include the following:
- Payment Security: this year we launched our next generation payment hardware security module (HSM). payShield 10K secures digital payments at lower processing costs by using a fraction of the energy. Organizations that use payShield 10K will be able to streamline their operation and support of the latest standards for real-time payments, open banking and secure remote commerce.
- Data Security: Thales provides data security through encryption, key management, access control and security intelligence across devices, processes, platforms and environments. Back in February, Thales announced it would be debuting a new suite of crypto security capabilities at RSA Conference 2019 under the banner of “Encrypt Everything.” It will now be bringing those solutions with it to GITEX 2019.
- Cloud Security: The security risks facing organizations in the cloud are rising. Indeed, we found in our 2019 Global Cloud Data Security Study that while organizations store nearly half (48 percent) of their data in the cloud, 70 percent of enterprises say it’s more difficult to manage privacy and data protection regulations in the cloud than on-premise. Organizations need to ensure that their data can move between cloud-based and on-premise environments using a robust cloud security solution.
We can’t wait to reconnect with our existing customers and our partner community as well as meet with future and existing partners. With that in mind, please visit us at Booth SR-G20. We hope to see you there!