Attacks on Internet of Things (IoT) devices around the world increased by 600 percent in 2017, according to Vice President of Cyber Security at STC Solutions Fahad Aljutaily. The most affected countries were China (21 percent), the US (11 percent) and Brazil (6 percent).
He was speaking at a recent training session for media professionals, titled Cybersecurity — Risks and Challenges at the STC Academy.
STC Media Club, in cooperation with STC Business Unit, organized the training course for 25 journalists from newspapers and TV channels. The course focused on the technical solutions adopted by Saudi Arabia in its digital transformation, such as cybersecurity, big data, cloud computing and IoT.
Aljutaily said that 54 percent of the world’s companies have been targeted by attacks on data or IT infrastructure. Global spending on cybersecurity reached $96 billion in 2018.
“By 2021, cybercrime damage is expected to reach $6 trillion per year and jobs in cybersecurity are expected to reach 3.5 million,” he noted.
Aljutaily said the Middle East is facing a huge challenge in filling jobs in the field of cybersecurity, which is due to the lack of professionals available in this field.
“Saudi Arabia is currently focusing on strengthening governance and building automated systems for all government services to improve services offered to citizens, especially in the areas of health care and education,” said Talal Al-Bakr, VP of STC Digital Solutions. There are currently 29 digital initiatives in all sectors and five governmental digital platforms under construction.
In a paper for the Director of Digital Solutions, Abdul Aziz Al-Abdullatif, he pointed out that the IoT technology gives everything around us the ability to connect to the internet. The revenues generated by IoT technology in the Saudi market is estimated to reach SR28 billion ($7.5 billion) through more than 145 million connected devices by 2030.
Rayyan Al-Khinini, director of digital platform management, said: “Since 2015, STC has been investing in this field by launching the Slicer platform, which provides statistics on 19 million customers within the network.”
It also provides population analysis and reports on regions, which help government agencies reach decisions regarding opening governmental branches to provide services to citizens.”
