Saudi organisations need to automate and reinvent cybersecurity processes to thwart cyber-threats, says VMware at IDC CIO Security Summit in Saudi Arabia
Two-thirds of IT decision-makers in Saudi Arabia rank cybersecurity as their top IT priority.
About half (46%) of Saudi organisations still expect to be hit by a cyber-attack, almost three times the amount of respondents in the wider Europe, Middle East, and Africa region (16%).
This is according to research from VMware, a global leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility, announced at the IDC CIO Security Summit 2017 Saudi Arabia.
As Saudi organisations drive digital business competitiveness in support of Saudi Vision 2030, connecting applications and devices to networks is exposing them to more and complex cyber-threats, from malware to advanced persistent threats.
As a result, research from VMware finds that two-thirds (64%) of Saudi organisations rank cybersecurity as their top IT priority, with businesses in the region increasing funding for cybersecurity solutions across data backup (74%), encryption (66%), threat monitoring (64%) and firewalls (60%).
Jean-Pierre Brulard, senior vice president and general manager, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, VMware, said: “Despite increased spending on cybersecurity, traditional security models need to change.
“To better protect business brands and customer trust, IT departments should shift their spending focus to securing applications, which are at the heart of business success and competitiveness.
“That is why we have added VMware AppDefense™ to our security transformation portfolio, to enable organisations to further secure the interactions between users, applications, and data.”
