15 Nov Holiday season poses security concerns for UAE organisations
An overwhelming 90% of UAE organisations are anticipating a moderate to substantial increase in demand during the 2021 holiday season, according to research from McAfee Enterprise and FireEye.
This expected increase in demand makes organisations more vulnerable to cyber attacks, making peak holiday season a risky time for businesses and their customers’ data. The Cybercrime in a Pandemic World: The Impact of COVID-19 research revealed that 87% of UAE companies experiences an increase in cyber threats since the onset of the pandemic, causing 67% of respondents to experience downtime. Of that downtime, 83% reported it happened during a national holiday, religious festival or other peak season.
“It is imperative all businesses prioritise security technology to keep them protected, especially during the peak holiday season,” said Bryan Palma, CEO of FireEye-McAfee Enterprise. “Most IT professionals want their organisation to improve its overall cyber readiness. Businesses must do more and need an intelligent security architecture for managing today’s sophisticated threat landscape.”
This year, the ‘everything shortage’ is real – from a shortage in workforce to limited supplies to lack of services to deliver goods. This creates an urgency for companies to have actionable security plans and to effectively contain and respond to threats.
Despite these intensified threats, security hasn’t necessarily been prioritised during the pandemic. The research found that 34% of respondents have had their technology and security budgets slashed; 57% say their company could place more emphasis on cybersecurity planning, and 84% found maintaining a fully staffed security team more challenging during peak periods.