Saudi organizations cite vulnerability in technology put in place during the pandemic

Saudi organizations cite vulnerability in technology put in place during the pandemic, reveals a recent report by Tenable. Tenable, Inc., the Cyber Exposure firm, has revealed the findings of research that indicated 86 percent of Saudi companies experienced a business-impacting cyberattack as a result of vulnerabilities in technology implemented during the epidemic. The data comes from ‘Beyond Boundaries: The Future of Cybersecurity in the New World of Work,’ a commissioned research of more than 1,300 security professionals, corporate executives, and remote employees, including 104 in Saudi Arabia, done by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Tenable.

For many Saudi organizations, the pandemic has boosted remote work. In fact, 91 percent of businesses currently use remote workers, up from only 34% in early 2020. The vast majority of businesses (91 percent) intend to keep this remote working model in place in the future.

Cloud use has exploded in response to the new world of work.  Seventy-seven percent of Saudi businesses have migrated mission-critical services to the cloud, including human resources (80 percent) and accounting and finance (60 percent ).

However, the hazards to companies have increased as a result of the change in working patterns. According to their own admission, 63 percent of Saudi firms are prepared from a security aspect to accommodate new workforce initiatives, while 67 percent believe that transferring business-critical services to the cloud exposes the corporation to significant cyber risk.

When it comes to the consequences of this elevated risk, threat actors are seizing the opportunity. In the previous 12 months, 98% of firms were hit by a business-impacting hack, with 33% of those hit by five or more. Fifty-seven percent of Saudi companies stated the attacks were aimed at remote workers.

 “Remote and hybrid work strategies are here to stay, and so will the risks they introduce unless organizations get a handle on what their new attack surface looks like,” said Amit Yoran, CEO, Tenable.

He added, “This study reveals two paths forward — one riddled with unmanaged risk and unrelenting cyberattacks and another that accelerates business productivity and operations in a secure way. CISOs and CEOs have the opportunity and responsibility to securely harness the power of technology and manage cyber risk for the new world of work.”

To enable a remote and hybrid working environment, IT and security teams are fast deploying solutions for connectivity, collaboration, and productivity, as well as shifting business-critical data to the cloud. In order to effectively reduce the risks created, organizations must review their strategy to ensuring security that is aligned with the business.

 “The pandemic has seen the corporate perimeter shattered,” said Maher Jadallah, Senior Director Middle East & North Africa, Tenable.

Further said, “Cloud adoption and remote working practices were being cautiously adopted in Saudi, but in the last eighteen months, this transition has exponentially accelerated. Attackers have seized on the opportunity, as this study reveals, which means understanding what poses a risk to the business and managing that risk effectively is imperative.”