CYBER SECURITY
N ITY ?
the regional cloud market is growing at a CAGR of 21 %, and will reach US $ 9.8 billion by 2027 , up from US $ 2.7bn in 2020 .
The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 accelerated digital transformation as entire nations were forced to adapt to a new way of working and way of life . However , this rapid acceleration brought with it greater risk – due to the sheer scale and rate of transformation – which sometimes saw security lag behind .
That was painfully clear around the globe , not just in the Middle East . According to a report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky , the number of ransomware attacks in the Middle
East increased by 57 % in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the same period in 2020 . Another survey by Cybereason said cyberattacks rose 71 % in the UAE in 2021 , with 84 % of UAE companies paying a ransom – a figure that is 20 % higher than the global average .
It is not just the number of cyber attacks that is the problem , rather the sensitive data and critical infrastructure that is now hosted in the cloud – making it a potential target for cyber criminals . Finance and healthcare , for example , have been hit particularly hard in the region . cybermagazine . com 41