Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Sohaila Ahmed, Staff Reporter

In the age of digital transformation, data is the key and securing this data is the biggest challenge for any organization in the world.

Today, companies not only need to protect their intellectual property, but also customers’ personal data to avoid fines and bad press. To avoid all this, companies first need to identify their data flows and where it is located; once it is sorted, a data risk assessment must be done and policies must be developed to enforce the outcome of such assessment.

In addition, companies must also focus on increasing cyber security awareness among their employees, in order to avoid the occurring of human errors, which are considered to be the main causes of security breaches.

ESET Middle East, a Dubai-based company, has been a pioneer in the field of cyber security with more than 30 years of security intelligence at work and actively protecting users from vulnerability, risks and cyber-attacks.

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Husni Hammoud, Managing Director at ESET Middle East, stated that the latest edition of ESET products and solutions is powered by the most advanced technologies, which provides enhanced protection, multiplatform compatibility and a new layer of machine learning detection.

“In today’s digital world, anyone and everyone is at a risk, which includes big corporations, private businesses and governments. Lack of awareness, education, poor password management and basic cyber hygiene are the prime reasons that exposes companies, businesses and governments to become a desirable target for hackers and cybercriminals,” Hammoud said.

Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Blockchain will continue to have a big impact on cyber security market. Ransomware, Malware, cryptojacking, and business email compromise will go on to pose major concerns for organisations in the region.

Critical sectors of the economy such as Oil & Gas, Utility, Energy, Government, Banking and Finance have been exposed not just to hackers and cybercriminals but also to cyber warfare.

Hammoud added that companies also need to have a ready blueprint to minimise the damage in case their networks are compromised, because not having a post incident strategy can have worst consequences than the actual security incident. For example, a power producing company has to be ready with an action plan in advance to respond to a cyber-attack or the city will be out of power for an indefinite period.

Data mapping is also considered to be extremely important for better security and compliance as well as continuously updating the server protection.