SMEs in Bahrain easy target for cybercriminals

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

The Small and Medium enterprises making their baby steps in the digital world amid the pandemic are easy targets for cyberattacks, an information technology expert had warned. Citing the latest SICO report, Yaqoob Al Awadhi points out that 58% of the victims of the trojan attacks are SMEs.

Concerning fact is that 60% of the affected companies failed to recover, with some completely exiting the market. The report, Yaqoob Al Awadhi, the CEO of NGN International, said, reminds us that the SMEs in Bahrain, especially those who had just begun their digital journey in light of the pandemic, are not cyber-attacks immune. “On the contrary, they are considered an easy target for cybercriminals.”

He points out that major companies in the Kingdom are well aware of the threats in cyberspace. However, SMEs with less than 50 employees are yet to perceive the significance of protecting their work or customer privacy. “We are talking here about the vast majority of Bahraini companies, including hospitals, hotels, institutes, and others,” Al Awadhi added.

He warns that no one wants to be in the predicament of finding out that his company had disappeared from cyberspace a morning or that their customer’s data are gone. Al Awadhi points out that the cybercriminals are taking advantage of the pandemic situation to their benefit to target IT infrastructure in the Kingdom.

“Cybersecurity is no longer complicated or costly, and it’s crucial to allocate a budget for it, whether it is established by teams from within the organisation or obtained through other companies.”

He warns that cybercriminals look for the money, and therefore they target SMEs that do not have a robust cybersecurity strategy.” He also points out that CEOs of these companies tend to think that “cybercriminals will not attack them because they are not dealing in millions of dinars.”