DNS management and security services Infoblox has recently unveiled a global report examining the state of security concerns, costs, and remedies.
According to Infoblox, as the pandemic and uneven shutdowns stretch into a third year, organisations are accelerating digital transformation projects to support remote work. However, attackers continue to seize the vulnerabilities in these environments, creating more work and larger budgets for security teams.
In the UAE, the surge in remote work has changed the corporate landscape significantly – and permanently. The study found that 52 percent of organisations accelerated IT modernisation/ digital transformation projects for remote work. While networks have gone hybrid to accommodate this shift, security is still catching up. Businesses also added resources to networks and databases (49 percent) and hired more IT staff (43 percent), an above average hiring rate compared to respondents from other countries globally.
Nearly three out of four (72 percent) said a breach resulted from the security incidents their organisation experienced, according to the report. The successful attacks were likely to have originated from Wi-Fi access points (50 percent) and third parties (42 percent). Furthermore, the attacks have had significant financial impact, with 42 percent of organisations suffered up to $1 million (AED 3.672 million) in both direct and indirect damages.
While ransomware grabbed headlines, Phishing and APTs were among top attack methods, the report revealed. UAE companies were most likely to fall victim to phishing (56 percent) or an advanced threat (APT) (50 percent), followed by ransomware (44 percent). Successful phishing attacks typically signal the need for better employee awareness training to prevent them from falling for these popular scams.
On a positive note, the report revealed that UAE organisations are now putting more resources toward network protection, data, and cloud. A large majority (81 percent) expects more IT security funding in 2022. Those anticipating a hybrid approach are most apt to adopt DNS security (45 percent) and secure web gateways (43 percent).
“It is heartening to see from the survey that UAE enterprises are laying out bigger budgets towards IT security this year and are realising the importance of DNS security. DNS is becoming a more common target of network attacks. As one of the oldest and most relied-on protocols of the modern Internet, DNS is utilised by almost all other services and protocols, making DNS an appealing target to attackers. Solutions like Infoblox Advanced DNS Protection (ADP) effectively shields organisations from the widest range of DNS DDoS attacks, maintaining service uptime for the organisation,” said Mohammed Al-Moneer, Regional Director, Middle East, Turkey & Africa at Infoblox.
“It is also encouraging to see growing interest from regional organisations in SASE frameworks that deliver integrated networking and security across a borderless enterprise from the cloud. SASE is undoubtedly the key to the future of networks and security,” he added.
Anthony James, VP of Product Marketing at Infoblox further highlighted that the pandemic shutdowns over the past two years have reshaped how companies around the world operate. “Cloud-first networks and corresponding security controls went from nice-to-have features to business mainstays as organisations sent office workers to work from home. To address the spike in cyber-attacks, security teams are turning to DNS security and zero trust models like SASE for a more proactive approach to protecting corporate data and remote devices.”
