UAE malware attacks rose in March, says expert

Acronis has revealed that daily malware detections in the UAE have been on the rise in the month of March—a worrying trend that exposes the critical need for cybersecurity in the region, especially for small businesses.

Speaking ahead of this year’s GISEC, Candid Wuest, Acronis VP, Cyber Protection, said that the UAE had come under sharp focus this month over increased cases of malware.

“Over the last two weeks we have seen a rapid increase in new cyber threats, which could be a concern. Our latest data indicates that between March 3, 2022 and March 11, 2022, malware detections alone have increased by 122 percent. This goes to show that cybercriminals are working overtime to develop tools and tricks that enable them to counter-fight the solutions being put in place. However, at Acronis, we try to always be a step ahead thanks to our machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI). This information has helped us enhance our cyber protection solutions to proactively protect internet users from continuous emerging cyber threats,” said Candid.

Globally, during Q4 of 2021 over 12,640 ransomware attacks were blocked on average per month by Acronis – a 0.2 percent jump from Q3 2021. In the same period, Acronis’ cyber protection solutions also blocked 1,156,773 malware attacks on average per month representing a 74 percent jump from Q3. Acronis also blocked over three million malicious URLs on average per month further demonstrating the effectiveness of strategic approach and technology.