The continuing success of digitization across the Middle East and rapidly among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), brings with it complementary and growing exposure to the risk of cyberattacks. These rising cyber threats by other countries and by highly expert criminal rings from around the world have the potential to disrupt the progress of digitization and threaten the reimbursement delivered through it.

Around 57% of Middle Eastern companies lost approximately USD $500,000 compared to 33%  of companies globally due to cyberattacks. For instance, Oman banks suffered a loss of USD $45 million as a result of ATM cyber-heist in the region and in 2012 Qatari natural gas company (RasGas) got smacked similarly with the Shamoon virus that shut down its website and e-mail servers.

The GCC cybersecurity spending except for the banking and energy sector does not meet the global standard. Only about 37% of the major firms have comprehensive security and training services as compared to 53% globally.

In the present scenario, the views in the region towards cyber security are beginning to turn, with the recruitment of professionals on the rise and many big cyber security firms are setting up in the region to protect the businesses and general public from cyber threats. 

For instance, Raytheon (RTN), the U.S. based Technology and Innovation Company at the forefront in developing global cyber security and defense solutions, is the one of the major firms providing cyber security to GCC institution and businesses.

How could GCC Cyber Security Market address the COVID-19 concern?

With the whole nation working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic, cyber hackers are looking to exploit vulnerabilities to steal valuable information. Everyone needs to be very careful before clicking on a tempting link purporting to be from the World Health Organization (WHO), or similar, with positive information about the cure for COVID-19. Chances are it’ll be a hacker preying on understandable anxiety about the coronavirus pandemic among people. 
There are some 4,000 COVID-19 domains that have been registered this year, many likely fronts for cybercrime. By this number it could be assumed that how much amount of security is needed to access any COVID-19 related domain.

Various steps taken by WHO and various cyber security organisations in GCC can help in decreasing the cyber-crime caused due to this COVID-19 outbreak.

Impact of Cyber Security in GCC on COVID-19 Outbreak

Many cyber security organisations in GCC are working to overcome the impact of cyber security on COVID-19. Various apps and website are being developed to overcome the cyber security threat during COVID-19 pandemic.  For example, Banking trojan malware is masquerading as a WHO-developed mobile application helping individuals recover, or virtual private network (VPN) installers. 

Further, as working from home becomes more predominant, it is down to organisations to ensure any endpoint that an employee is using is fully protected and no one can misuse it. Many unprotected end points are there during this COVID-19 outbreak. As the Absolute 2019 Global Endpoint Security Trend Report showed, 42% of endpoints are unprotected at any given time.

In short, the same steps that one takes to ensure they don’t get sick should be translated into steps that keep devices and networks secure. Hand sanitiser is used to remove germs from hands, similarly an effective antivirus solution should be used to keep germs off the computers and networks.

GCC Cyber Security Market Landscape

GCC cyber security market accounted for USD $7.2 billion in 2016 and is anticipated to reach USD $11.4 billion by 2024. Further, the GCC cyber security market is projected to register a CAGR of 5.9% during the forecast period i.e. 2016-2024 as GCC businesses are preparing themselves for more advanced cyber threat levels especially in the era of technology development and implementation. Geographically, UAE accounted for the largest market for advanced cyber security solutions with more than 35% market share in GCC cyber security market owing to expanding BFSI sector over the past few years. Saudi Arabia closely follows UAE accounting for 30% market share in the GCC cyber security market and growing at a healthy rate on the back of mounting Oil & Gas Sector.