A seminar to discuss ways of combating viruses that target financial institutions was held recently in Dubai, having been organised by the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), represented by the Computer Emergency Response Team (AECERT).
TRA is making efforts to provide a secure cyber space for users in the UAE, and protect them from potential attacks. The AECERT team plays a vital role in setting the strategies and mechanisms to be followed for prevention and protection of users from such attacks.
Commenting on the event, H E Muhammad Nasser Al Ghanim said, “There is little doubt that the widespread usage of IT services in the financial spectrum is a welcomed as it provides large-scale benefits to financial institutions’ clients.
“However, it also has its own risks manifested in the attacks by ‘cyber hackers’, who target the accounts and financial information of those clients. It is, therefore, essential to enhance the means of protecting them, and promote their capabilities in responding and facing such attacks within the shortest period of time, as the time element in such cases is so important.
“Threats have evolved to bypass classical protections adopted by many of these organisations. The landscape of the attacks has shifted from ‘phishing’ attacks, into ‘malware’ that mimics users’ behaviour to trick the institutions. There is no single solution to mitigate these threats; however, it takes collaboration, knowledge sharing and joint efforts to eradicate these issues, and this is what we sought to achieve at the seminar.”
During the seminar, the AECERT team provided information about malicious software. In addition, it gave recommendations related to prevention and protection from cyber-attacks for specific sectors in the UAE.