From facial recognition and iris scans, to crypto currency, the UAE’s banking and finance security innovation is driving the GCC’s cybersecurity market to $8 billion in 2018, industry experts said.

UAE banks are rapidly deploying multi-factor authentication to confirm a person’s identity, with several factors, such as a smartphone, a password, and a facial scan. The Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021could also see digital banking transactions on bitcoins, based on the secure digital ledger technology called blockchain.

Cybersecurity is vital to the business world, ranking as the top priority for more than 36 per cent of CEOs worldwide in their digital transformation, according to IDG’s State of the CIO 2018 report. As more regional organizations invest in cybersecurity, Visiongain predicts the GCC’s cyber security market will top $8 billion in 2018.

At the heart of financial technology cyber security strategies is organization-wide digital transformation and information management, said the UAE-based IT infrastructure and information management consultancy and solutions provider Condo Protego.

“The UAE’s financial sector has always been at the forefront of innovation. Multi-factor authentication should include an object, a fact, and a person, and is the next step for banking and finance organizations to defend against cyber-attacks and secure transactions,” said Andrew Calthorpe, CEO, Condo Protego.

In the UAE, Condo Protego is seeing strong demand for the RSA SecurID Authentication solution, which brings together multi-factor authentication, analysis of cyber threats, and business context to identify risks and protect the business.

“Banks need to place the trust of their customers and employees front and centre. Channel partners play a key role in supporting banks with unified tools and processes to securely store, manage, and access customer data at all times, locations, and devices,” added Calthorpe. – TradeArabia News Service