SAUDI GAZETTE REPORT

A cyber security specialist firm revealed that more than half of small and medium enterprises lack crucial cyber security policies in the Kingdom. A report stated that 64% of SMEs in Saudi Arabia are devoid of cyber security policies that could enable them to overcome and combat intrusions and phishing, according to the Ponemon institute for Cybersecurity.

I(TS)2 (Al Taqnia Al Amnia), the first local Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) in Saudi Arabia, pointed out that 49% of phishing attacks are targeted towards small enterprises followed by medium enterprises.

Abdulaziz al Subaie, General Manager of I(TS)2, explained that SMEs do not have the same resources and awareness that you would find in larger enterprises on the risks associated with Cyber Security which, in turn, makes them an easy target to cyber criminals.

"The increase in cyberattacks on smaller companies is a global issue," he said. "For example, 70% of SMEs in the United Kingdom have reported that they had faced some sort of cyber incident or breach."

"90% of SME data breaches are caused by phishing attacks," said Alsubaie. "31% of SMEs are not taking any active measures to protect against security threats and 39% of all organizations have medium to low maturity level, which is what makes it vulnerable to frequent phishing attacks resulting in a negative effect on its reputation and identity.

I(TS)2 this month launched a new bundle of Managed Security Services (MSSP) called “Raqeeb” which was initially inaugurated in 2007 that was developed for small and medium enterprises to help clients' cyber readiness.