Cybersecurity a key issue

Along with the most-used online searches, the best apps and websites and the geekiest gadgets, one company also published the list of weakest passwords – and (no) surprise, surprise, most of them were the same as three years ago. That number password 123456, that name-specific password, they are all easy to smash and cyber thieves are waiting to do just that. According to latest surveys,the GCC countries are the hot target for cyberattacks. Ransomware remains a widespread threat in the UAE with the country accounting for 2.4 million of the 1.7 billion ransomware attacks detected globally in Q1 of 2018. Bahrain accounted for 1.2 million of the total ransomware in the same period. Similarly, removable USB media devices such as flash drives which we plug in unthinkingly into office computer networks, apparently pose a significant – and intentional – cybersecurity threat to a wide array of industrial process control networks. Data derived from Honeywell technology used to scan and control USB devices at 50 customer locations showed that nearly half (44pc) detected and blocked at least one file with a security issue. It also revealed that 26 percent of the detected threats were capable of significant disruption by causing operators to lose visibility or control of their operations. The threats targeted a wide variety of industrial sites, including refineries, chemical plants and pulp-and-paper manufacturers around the world, and the threats themselves ranged in severity. About 1 in 6 targeted industrial control systems or Internet of Things (IoT) devices. I remember when the first phone cameras came into circulation there was an outcry about their misuse and how people could be blackmailed using them. And then everybody got used to it and the discussion died down. But times have changed. The cyberworld is more pervasive and our interaction with it is at more levels. As we move more rapidly into a digitally powered world where virtually all our records – our health, our wealth, even our relationships are online – it’s getting increasingly important for us to invest in cybersecurity as a key infrastructure necessity. Device penetration, interconnectivit, massive data – all of these have started to proliferate and more so in the near future. Governments and businesses should continue to strengthen their cybersecurity capabilities in order to truly evolve and realise the desired outcomes.