Middle East at Danger as Cybercrime Deepens

CEO of Kaspersky Lab, Eugene Kaspersky, declares that that currently, the entire Internet world is facing the challenge of cyber crime and Middle East has emerged as a simple target for cyber criminals worldwide, as per the news by ZAWYA on April 27, 2009.

Kaspersky Lab informs that during 2007, five fresh malware were identified in every 120 seconds while during 2008, it is in every two seconds that a new malware was discovered. The security firm also added that it was due to the development of cybercrime that include shift from viruses to Trojan horses and the progression from injecting malevolent codes into legitimate software for monetary gains that has resulted into the expansion of cybercrime.

The security experts stated that hackers are exploiting the vulnerabilities in web-based applications as well as in plug-ins to convert authentic sites into sources of malware. This way, they are gaining a lot in financial terms. According to the US Department of Treasury, cybercrime industry is a worth US$ 100 Billion outpacing drug dealing during 2006.

Also, as per the Security Intelligence Report of Microsoft, released during December 2008, rates of malware infection in the Middle East countries were 2-3 times of the worldwide average; Bahrain being the worst nation following only Afghanistan, at 29.2 infections of every thousand infections. Iraq followed with 23.6 while Egypt recorded a figure of 22.5.

Unfortunately, security experts add that cybercrime is likely to expand further in the region in the coming years. According to Kaspersky's statement, the region is expected to face more attacks crime activities because of expansion of the SME sector which is anticipated to make up 80% of the Middle East businesses by 2011, as per IDC.

Besides, Eugene Kaspersky also commented that cyber attacks could severely hamper the economic growth of the region unless and until stiff actions are taken by businesses to safeguard themselves.

Hence, security experts suggest that people should be well aware about the cyber threats so that they can effortlessly recognize the infection and fix it timely. In addition, they should use efficient anti-virus software and spam filters. Regularly updating software and computer systems can also be beneficial.

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