Around 57% of Middle Eastern companies lost approximately USD 500,000 compared to 33% 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 smack with similar Shamoon virus that shut down its website and e-mail servers.

According to Goldstein Market Intelligence, GCC's 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 cybersecurity are beginning to turn, with the recruitment of professionals on the rise and many big cybersecurity firms are setting up in the region to protect the businesses and general public from cyber threats.

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

With the whole nation working from home during this COVID-19 pandemic, cyber hackers are looking to exploit vulnerabilities to steal valuable information. Everyone needed 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 cybersecurity organizations 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 cybersecurity organizations in GCC are working to overcome the impact of cybersecurity on COVID-19. Various apps and websites are being developed to overcome the cybersecurity threat during the 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 organizations to ensure any endpoint that an employee is using is fully protected and no one can misuse it.

There are many unprotected endpoints that 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 sanitizer 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's cybersecurity market accounted for USD 7.2 billion in 2016 and is anticipated to reach USD 11.4 billion by 2024. Further, the GCC cybersecurity 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 cybersecurity solutions with more than 35% market share in GCC cybersecurity market owing to expanding the BFSI sector over the past few years. Saudi Arabia closely follows UAE accounting for a 30% market share in the GCC cybersecurity market and growing at a healthy rate on the back of mounting Oil & Gas Sector.