Dangers posed by web-based threats to the region’s businesses will come under the spotlight at the Gitex Technology Week, being held in Dubai later this year.

Computer users in the Middle East at all levels – from home consumers through to the largest corporations – are under increased pressure from web-based threats, say experts in information security technology.

Web threat activity rose dramatically during the first half of this year, peaking in March to 50 million from approximately 15m in December last year, security leader Trend Micro said.

Such is the level of threat that security has now become a major area of investment, with research group IDC estimating that the total value of ICT security spending for the region will touch $9.3m by next year, with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain the top five investors.

Major security and networking companies taking part in the Gitex Technology Week, which takes place at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre from October 19-23, include Alcatel, Avaya, Bluecoat, Cisco Linksys, D-Link, Mitel, SecureWay, Sonic Wall, Symantec and Trend Micro.

Security is becoming a bigger concern for companies and individual users as the level of threats increases and the range of methods to breach security becomes more sophisticated. Because Gitex Technology Week brings together a critical mass of international security experts, we aim to use the event to focus upon the specific challenges facing the region,” organiser Dubai World Trade Centre director-general Helal Saeed Almarri said.

New research from Trend Micro confirms that hackers heavily targeted large corporate websites in the early part of this year.

Cyber criminals launched SQL injection attacks on thousands of web pages belonging to some of the largest companies, as well as government agencies, educational institutions, and well known sites that experience heavy traffic.
 
“Criminals are keeping pace with technology and becoming more ambitious in selecting targets. Increasingly, they are trying to target the specific individuals within a business who can provide access to lucrative financial details and log-in credentials across the whole organisation,” said Trend Micro Middle East and North Africa managing director Justin Doo.

In March, Trend Micro discovered that more than 400 phishing kits designed to generate phishing sites were targeting top Web 2.0 sites (ie social networking, video sharing and VoIP sites), free email service providers, banks and popular e-Commerce websites.

Given the changing threat, time has become the critical element for enterprises in preventing malware and insider threats from damaging productivity, customer, supplier and partner relationships, and corporate reputation.

In the Gitex Business Solutions stream, world’s leading Internet security companies will be demonstrating how changing user behaviour is increasing the range of threats facing organisations in the Middle East. Changes in the way end users access information and corporate databases – using devices like laptops and pen drives – and the increasing exchange of digital data, such as video and photo sharing, are all expanding the threat landscape facing companies in the Middle East.

This year’s the technology week will incorporate a powerful week of dedicated trade events, including Gitex Business Solutions, GULFCOMMS and Consumer Electronics, as well as targeted networking initiatives designed to ensure the event covers the entire technology spectrum.

The show also incorporates the Gitex Technology Week Global Conference, one of the region’s largest and most high profile IT forums. Senior CIOs from some of the Middle East’s most dynamic business and government organisations, as well as developers from the world’s leading IT companies will be speaking about the current issues facing the industry.- Trade Ar