VIEWPOINT
WHY AUTOMATION IS A GAME CHANGER FOR SECURITY HADI JAAFARAWI, MANAGING DIRECTOR – MIDDLE EAST, QUALYS, MAKES THE CASE FOR AUTOMATION IN CYBERSECURITY.
T
he cybersecurity industry, unfortunately, cannot claim to be in the business of good news. Threat actors ensure that we are continually warning of new vectors and techniques and advising new approaches to combat them. It is hardly controversial to suggest that COVID-19, apart from its horrendous impact on public health and population welfare, has impacted the ability of companies to keep their customers and employees safe from cyberattacks. Fresh complexities in the architecture of corporate technology
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CXO INSIGHT ME
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infrastructures have left IT and security teams in catch-up mode — confused, overworked, and underequipped. In a short break from doom and gloom, a PwC global poll shared some good news. It showed around 69% of organisations are planning to increase their cybersecurity budgets in 2022, and more than a quarter (26%) plan increases of 11% or more. Such action will be vital in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where, according to a VMware report, 80% of security professionals reported increases in the number of attacks their
organisation faced, and attributed the surge directly to remote work. In November last year, Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cybersecurity for the UAE Government again spoke of a cyber pandemic, having previously used the term publicly in December 2020 after reporting that the country had seen a 250% increase in attacks because of remote working. The persistence of skills gaps The Middle East has now-famous skills gaps in key technology areas at a time when technology is the answer to
