(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar faced and successfully resolved the highest number of incidents in threats to Internet security in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa (META) region during the first quarter of 2015, an analysis by leading IT security solutions provider Kaspersky Lab indicates.
Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) cloud service statistics for January-March 2015 shows that the highest numbers of web threat incidents were reported in Qatar (31% of KSN users faced these threats), followed by the UAE (29%), Turkey (25%) and Saudi Arabia (24%).
Kenya, South Africa, Bahrain and Lebanon faced somewhat lower threat levels: 14-18% of users were affected by online threats in these countries.
In terms of local threats to cyber security (malware spread through USBs, CDs and DVDs in local networks), Egypt continues to have the highest number of users affected (50.5%), followed by Qatar (46%), Saudi Arabia (45.8%) and Turkey (44.6%), the KSN cloud service statistics for January-March 2015 shows.
The analysis indicates that in the META region, an average of 41% of users had security incidents related to local networks and removable media while 21% of users faced web-related threats.
The statistics were released at a "Cyber Security Weekend" conference for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa, held by Kaspersky Lab from April 26 to April 29 in Lisbon, Portugal.
Specialists from Kaspersky Lab's Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT) and Global Product and Technology Marketing Department, an invited expert from EY, journalists and business guests attended the event.
"At Kaspersky Lab, we believe that to eliminate the risks brought by the Internet and new technologies a combination of factors is needed: comprehensive technologies, including those for critical infrastructures and high-risk industries; education of the general public and businesses; and law enforcement and international co-operation," said Sergey Novikov, deputy director of GReAT, Kaspersky Lab.
Speaking about the threats facing organisations, experts referred to statistics from the 2014 Global Corporate IT Security Risks survey conducted by B2B International and Kaspersky Lab.
Depending on their country, anywhere from a quarter to more than half of
the organisations in the region said they faced viruses and other malware, spam, phishing and software vulnerabilities in the past year.
Raddad Ayoub, partner, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa (EMEIA) Advisory Center, Ernst & Young, shared the company's expertise in the field in a presentation about the realities and trends of corporate cyber security in the region.
He said: "Companies need to address cybercrime - which, like other threats, has the potential to cause significant reputational and financial damage.
"In a recent EY study on cybercrime, we discovered that organisations are making progress on building the foundations of cybersecurity. However, most respondents report having only a "moderate" level of maturity in their foundations. This clearly means that there is still a lot to do."
Sergey Lozhkin, senior security researcher with GReAT at Kaspersky Lab, made a presentation about targeted attacks and cyber-espionage campaigns.
"Today we see business supply chains are under attack, cyber-
mercenaries becoming a 'commodity' and more APT (advanced persistent threat) groups appearing," he said.
"Mitigation strategies for advanced threats should include security policies
and education, network security, comprehensive system administration and specialised security solutions that include software patching features, application control, whitelisting and a default deny mode," he said.
Kaspersky Lab is the world's largest privately held vendor of endpoint
protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world's top four
vendors of security solutions for endpoint users.
The company, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 400mn users worldwide.
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