Saudi Arabia and UAE posted the highest levels of malware detections in the Middle East over the past year, according to a recent report.

Trend Micro’s Smart Protection Network Feedback pointed out that for the top 10 malware detections alone in each country, the kingdom counted 11.01 million instances, and the UAE counted 10.26 million instances, from June last year to May.

Its report ‘The Mobile Landscape Roundup:1H 2014’ said that the types of global mobile malware will grow from two million in the first half of the year to a record three million in the second half of this year.

Growth in mobile malware threats, particularly in the Middle East, is being led by the increasing bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend, with employees bringing their own smartphones, tablets, and laptops to the workplace, it said.

Ihab Moawad, vice president, Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa and CIS, said: “Enterprises across Saudi Arabia and the UAE are pacing the Middle East in embracing BYOD for productivity and flexibility, but Middle East enterprises cite security as their number one concern.”

According to Gartner, half of the employers worldwide will require employees to supply their own devices by 2017.

In the Middle East and Africa, the BYOD market is set to grow 22.8 per cent per year from $11 billion last year to $38 billion by 2019, according to a report from MicroMarket Monitor.

While Middle East enterprises have embraced BYOD, enterprises must secure the valuable enterprise data and apps contained and accessed from multiple devices outside the network, said the report.

Meanwhile, spam is another major issue in the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Kuwait the top three GCC countries for receiving spam last year and this year, according to Trend Micro.

“Among the most alarming enterprise security threats are data breaches, targeted attacks, and malicious and high-risk applications,” said Moawab.

“Middle East enterprises must deploy mobile security solutions, mobile usage guidelines, threat information and education for safe and secure workplaces.”

The security solutions with mobile device management, such as Trend Micro Mobile Security (TMMS), provide control in a centralised, scalable, single console and allow visibility with regard to devices and their respective statuses.

Trend Micro is showcasing its scalable cyber-security solutions, including the Smart Protection Suite, the Deep Security 9.5 platform, and the Deep Discovery Email Inspector, in line with its “Project 2020” cyber security vision for the future of cyber-crime in 2020, at Gitex Technology Week. - TradeArabia News Service