The word Cyber Security refers to protecting against uncertain digital attacks over the digital system, network, applications, and programs. Those uncertain digital threats or risks refer to cyber attacks. The aim of cyber attacks is to harm the system by accessing unauthorized control over confidential information and databases.
In today’s era, data is one of the most important weapons for achieving exponential business growth. But it is underlying with associated risks! The rise of digital innovation also increases the risk of data breaches within different industries, including healthcare, banking, insurance, education, etc.
In UAE, where advancement is at its peak, cyber security is an instrumental solution for the rapidly evolving implementation of technology. Businesses in the UAE extensively indulge in technology and must leverage cyber security. As a result, it protects organizational systems and networks from different cyber attacks. Software development companies like us also care more about software security by integrating robust security measures within the development phase.
Simply put, cyber security is here to protect all digital systems and solutions from malicious activities that can cause harm to sensitive data and information within the systems. In this article, you will find a comprehensive guide about different types of cyber-attacks, cyber security challenges, and the best practices for cyber security implementation. We will also discuss the major cyber attack incidents that leading businesses faced in the UAE.
What Are The Types of Cyber Attacks?
Cyber attacks can be of different types, but the intention is to disclose or divulge personal information, including name, residential address, credit card information, phone numbers, date of birth, and others. Let’s look out one by one!
Phishing Attack
A phishing attack intends to trick the victim into performing certain actions that come in the favor of hackers. It comes under the 5 top cyber attacks in the world. Hackers identify the most suitable and most genuine-looking tricks to attack users differently. Phishing attacks have further 4 types: spear, whaling, smishing, and vishing.
- Spear: Spear phishing is set up to attack a particular individual rather than a group of people. In this case, the hacker already knows some information about the target and traps them using that information to showcase authenticity. These attacks are more successful because they look genuine and believable.
- Whaling: It is a sub-type of spear phishing and a closely similar concept, but it is more specifically targeted. Individuals like celebrities, business people, or other well-off and high-net-worth persons are the main targets of whaling.
- Smishing: This phishing attack uses the SMS source to target the victims. Because of the high demand for SMS marketing and the reason people actually notice SMS notifications, Smishing is one of the most common cyber attacks.
- Vishing: Vishing is another type of phishing attack that uses phone calls as a medium to target users. People encounter fake or scripted phone calls where hackers pretend to be disguised agents of banks, customer support, or other undercover identities.
Malware or Malicious Software
It is a software code or computer program specifically designed to disrupt or gain unauthorized access to a specific computer system or software. Checkers mainly use it to hijack databases, divulge personal information, disrupt the computer system, hold data repositories, and make data hostage for ransom.
Ransomware
In this case of cyber attack, hackers asked for a large amount of money to evacuate the hijacked systems. Ransomware is one of the most common threats in the UAE. The case may get worse if the attackers double extortion attacks and ask for more money to prevent sharing data publically or using it in illegal activities.
Insider Threats
Insider threats refer to attacks that originated with authorized users. It may be an internal employee, business partner, ex-employee, contractor, or any stakeholder with access to the system and is labeled as an authorized user. Moreover, these types of threats are more detrimental and unidentified from the cyber security software. They can not be detected as unauthorized users and are invisible to antivirus software that hitch the external attacks.
Essential Cyber Security Practices
Implement cyber security practices to protect your information management system and track all unusual activities before they worsen.
Security Awareness Training
An organization lacking awareness of security measures has to pay a huge cost. The organization needs to train employees in major and minor security ethics of particular software or systems. It may include creating strong passwords, not sharing passwords with unauthorized members, using the same pattern or same password for multiple accounts, and so on. Security awareness training helps protect organizations’ sensitive informational data, eliminating the risk of any vulnerabilities and threats.
Control Accessibility
By using an identity and access management system, you can control accessibility by defining the roles of the users within the system. It requires at least one super admin credential to access every corner of the system and allocate other members with limited accessibility. The super admin can assign roles like admin, editor, contributor, viewer, etc. Moreover, IAM includes multi-factor authentication, which requires two-way authorization evidence. It can be a password and one-time passcode that will be received at your registered email or phone number.
Attack Surface Management
Attack surface management (ASM) involves identifying and mitigating potential avenues through which an attacker could exploit your systems, applications, or network infrastructure. It encompasses a comprehensive assessment of all entry points vulnerable to cyber threats. ASM empowers you to stay one step ahead of cyber adversaries by systematically analyzing and reducing your attack surface. By gaining visibility into potential vulnerabilities, you can prioritize remediation efforts and fortify your defenses effectively.
Threat Detection & Prevention
In this advanced technological sphere, AI and ML are vital in building thought-out software for threat detection and prevention. AI and ML-based software can easily detect malicious activities or unusual system usage patterns that trigger alerts before anything happens. Advanced detection may save a big chunk of the organization’s cost and time without intruding on operational activities.
Disaster Recovery
Disaster recovery, often abbreviated as DR, is a crucial component of organizational resilience. It refers to restoring operations and data after a disruptive event, such as natural disasters, cyber-attacks, or system failures. In essence, disaster recovery encompasses a set of policies, procedures, and technologies. These are designed to minimize the impact of a disaster and facilitate the rapid restoration of critical business functions. The goal is to ensure business continuity and reduce downtime, mitigating financial losses and safeguarding organizational reputation.
Major Incident Of Cyber Security Threats in UAE
Careem Ride-Hailing Services Faced Customer Data Breach
An international ride-hailing service in Dubai, “Careem,” faced a customer data breach with around 14 billion users. The hackers attacked customers’ and drivers’ databases and stole names, ride histories, and email addresses. Providentially, these details were safe and secure due to strong encryption over passwords and credit card information.
Read more: Reason Why You Need To Build Rideshare Apps Like Uber
Data Divulgence Of UAE Invest Bank Over Failed Pay Ransom
UAE Invest Bank is the most popular investment bank and digital banking service provider in the UAE. The bank encountered data leakage from their customers. The hacker used his nickname, “Hacker Buba,” to attack the digital banking system and hijack customer data (including credit cards, personal details, account numbers, etc.) for a $3 million Bitcoin ransom. The UAE Invest Bank did not pay the demanded ransom on which the hacker published all data to his Twitter account. Fortunately, there is no record of financial loss.
The UAE School Attacked Insider Threat
One of the popular schools with 18 branches across the UAE encountered an insider threat by a former IT head. The former IT head (He worked there for 16 years) removed some important files from the system without suspicion. Due to better knowhow about school IT infrastructure, accessing data and files was easy for him. Later on, after an investigation with the help of police, the files were restored, and the culprit was revealed. Also, the administration implemented possible integration of strong cyber security solutions across the school database system.
Cyber Attack Over Dubai Airport Website
The hackers attacked the Dubai Airport website and stole the employees’ confidential data in 2013. The reason behind the attack and stolen employees’ information was unknown. Fortunately, the data has not been exploited in uncertain activities, and no harm has yet happened.
Wrapping Up
Cyber security empowers the UAE’s advanced and innovative infrastructure. The lack of security concerns is not bearable at any cost due to the risky tech environment. UAE’s government also promotes cyber security measures and is eager to adopt a cyber security system that catches all malicious activities before they worsen. The underlying trend of cyber security adoption also provides an opportunity for cyber security engineers to contribute to developing a secure and protected digital environment at multiple levels.
At MMC Global, we are a leading cyber security solution provider with years of experience dealing with vulnerabilities and cyber attacks. We have protected over 500+ systems across different organizations by providing a shield of protection to streamline business processes. Let’s get in touch with us for any type of cyber security software development with the infusion of advanced technology like AI, ML, blockchain, cloud computing, etc.
Read more: Blockchain Development Services: A Transformation in Cybersecurity Ecosystem