Doha, Qatar: As one of the wealthiest regions in the world, the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) and the broader Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META) regions face more cyber threats on organisations’ and government assets.
“Today we are one of the most wealthy regions, and that is why our companies assets and because of this operation technology (OT) in exposure that we have in the region, it becomes even difficult to secure,” Associate Research Director, Cybersecurity at International Data Corporation (IDC) Middle East, Turkiye and Africa (META), Shilpi Handa, told The Peninsula on the sidelines of the IDC Security Roadshow in Doha.
“So that is why we see many targeted attacks happening just for the META region. Globally, companies talk about security, but we are seeing a decline in IT spending, but not for the META region right now,” Handa said.
Ransomware and phishing attacks have become more sophisticated, employing tactics like double extortion and social engineering in 2022. The landscape was characterised by a surge in advanced persistent threats (APTs), malware attacks, and cybercrime.
“Security threats and IT spending are growing here in the region, and it makes for a lucrative opportunity for the threat actors to come here and breach a utility organisation because they have the money. So those are some of the reasons. Also, these organisations here work on a large scale and have interconnected networks, not just IT security, but complex issues like protecting both Internet of Things (IoT) or OT or even interconnected IT. So those are some things that make the region more vulnerable today,” she added.
During her presentation on “Shaping Security Strategies for the Digital First Organizations,” Handa disclosed that 63% of Qatar security managers plan to invest in cloud security, 60% aim to invest in application security testing, 55% plan to invest in network security, 48% target vulnerability management/penetration testing, 48% on security awareness (phishing simulation) and 45% on OT security.
According to several reports, there has been a rise in investments in locally hosted solutions and services, particularly in Security Service Edge (SSE) and OT/IoT security, as well as Managed Cyber Defense for cyber resilience and compliance.
Besides, annual spending on cybersecurity solutions in the region is set to grow at a CAGR of 9.3% over the coming years to cross the $6bn mark in 2026, with cloud and software-as-a-service (SaaS) adoption continuing to accelerate across META. “The cybersecurity market is a $6bn market for META, growing at a CAGR of close to 13% today. Services are the fastest growing, and Software is the biggest market right now; however, hardware is shrinking. Definitely, we see a lot of potential and investment in security in the region,” Handa said.
