(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The wars of the future will be fought not only on the battlefield, but far from the public eye, in cyberspace, according to cyber security experts at the International Defence Exhibition and Conferences (Idex) in Abu Dhabi.
At Idex, cyber security has taken a prominent place alongside traditional weapons of war such as tanks and combat aircraft.
Companies such as Lockheed Martin, which is better known for producing aircraft such as the A-10 thunderbolt, are now investing heavily in both defensive and offensive cyber warfare capabilities and training.
"Lockheed is involved across all five domains. Air, space, land, maritime, and now cyber," said Dr Grigorios Koutsogiannis, Lockheed Martin's Middle East and Africa for information systems and global solutions. "We provide capabilities across the full spectrum."
The issue of cyber security has been brought into sharp focus by a string of high-profile hacking attacks in recent weeks. Earlier this month, the websites of two UAE news outlets, Al Ittihad and Abu Dhabi TV, were hacked by apparent Daesh supporters.
In another well-publicised incident, hackers also claiming to be Daesh members took over the Twitter and YouTube accounts of the US Military Central Command, which has responsibility for the Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.
Keith Moore, Lockheed Martin's vice-president for international business development, said cyber attackers are getting increasingly sophisticated. "The level of expertise gets better every day," he said. "You have to adapt. It's a constant game you have to play."
'Outside help'
Moore noted the possibility that Daesh is receiving outside help to conduct its cyber activities.
"Clearly, there are people out there that make money doing this. I think you have to question whether this was an indigenous capability within Daesh or whether they had help," he said.
A recent survey commissioned by F5 networks, a networking technology company, found that 82 per cent of IT decision-makers in the UAE believe their organisations are "very" or "extremely" vulnerable to cyber threats, and another 79 per cent said it is now more difficult than ever before to protect against such threats.
Lockheed Martin officials said the company detected 50 concerted hacking campaigns against its systems by state actors in 2014 alone.
Protective measures often lag behind new ways hackers find to breach security measures.
Garth Braithwaite, F5's Middle East sales director, said companies are becoming increasingly aware of the need for a proactive defensive posture on the cyber front.
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