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Cyber attack readiness urged [Gulf Daily News (Bahrain)](Gulf Daily News (Bahrain) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) MANAMA: Very few Bahrain companies are equipped to deal with 'incidents' arising out of cyber attacks, an expert has warned. According to Protiviti Bahrain IT consulting head and director K Kalyanaraman, with the rise of cyber threats in the Middle East region, Bahrain companies in general are still studing plans to establish measures to mitigate cyber security threats. "Many of them still tend to believe that they are secure until impacted," he said in an interview with the GDN. "In the few cases where certain mechanisms are in place to respond to such 'incidents', their effectiveness is yet to be tested. "This is because of the limited role of senior management in understanding the potential impacts that such incidents could have on their business operations," he added. Sharing a key finding of Protiviti's 2013 IT Security and Privacy Survey, he said globally chief information officers (CIOs) are taking additional responsibility for data governance strategy, oversight and execution within their organisations "This trend is still evolving in Bahrain as traditionally CIOs have been involved in an operational role of managing information technology. "A few CIOs are now elevating the importance of data security threats at a strategic level in the GCC region, where it has started affecting their business operations directly," he added. "Such instances are gaining momentum in the wake of recent cyber attacks, including one of the largest card data thefts that occurred in the region. "Key initiatives need to be taken by the CIOs to start considering mitigation of cyber threats as of strategic importance to the organisation rather than as a compliance effort," Mr Kalyanaraman said. The advisory firm has noted awareness being generated within the CIO society and slowly being raised up to the board level discussions, especially among large clients. The trend is in a better situation within the banking industry due to the good level of compliance requirements suggested by the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) in terms of handling external cyber threats. "We are definitely seeing several positives in Bahrain and in the region towards addressing the external and internal threats. "The concrete efforts being taken by CBB and the government are visible in certain instances through the compliance initiatives mandating that banks in Bahrain may need to conduct penetration testing assessments every year," he said. "Also, the government is initiating several sessions on creating awareness in the community on handling internal and external security threats. "We have been associated with one such initiative recently," he added. To support these initiatives, some of the GCC states are also mulling setting up a cyber law to demonstrate the importance placed on tackling cyber security. This clearly shows signs of a positive approach at the country and regional levels to combat security threats and related breaches. [email protected] (c) 2013 Al Hilal Publishing & Marketing Group Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company |