Security threats escalate in UAE

Financial institutions and online banking have seen an escalating number of security threats this year, according to SafeNet.

"We have also witnessed hacktivist-sponsored DDoS attacks aimed at bank websites. Social media hacktivism is a new trend that has emerged this year, as public profiles of governments and well-known publications have been hacked. Another trending threat is the blended cyber-attacks, where hackers use an array of different malware and techniques to gain access to multiple areas of a network. In recent attacks, groups of hackers gained access to multiple levels of the supply chain to find the entry point," said Miguel Braojos, vice president of Sales Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa SEMEA at  SafeNet.

With the proliferation of mobile devices and BYOD, a new type of cyber attack has emerged that is targeting mobile applications, smartphones and their operating systems, either by introducing viruses that can obliterate all the information on the device, or gaining access to data stored on the devices, according to SafeNet.