He called for addressing the risks posed to the Kingdom's IT security, both in the public and private sector, and called for urgent steps to in order to ensure the continuity of business and development of business organizations. He called for more effort from public and private sectors to prevent such future attacks and warned of the impact of the increasing cyber crimes worldwide.
"Although there are many common features in the methodology of these illegal cyber attacks, 96 percent of them can be prevented through several security measures and procedures, some of which are not complicated and can be simple. Information security requires it be looked at closely to maintain its confidentiality, especially from those who are not authorized from viewing it, and so a network's security and it's content should be given prime consideration," said Merdad.
Merdad said that cyber attacks by hackers on Sony networks could cost the company a close to $1.5 billion. He also mentioned that cyber crimes in the UK cost 27 billion pounds a year.
Professor Nayel Momni of King Abdulaziz University's school of economics who was leading the session said: "Generally disasters cause great financial and human losses, which could adversely impact productivity and services. Companies and corporations have to be prepared to deal with future disasters. There is a need for risk assessments and business assurances to be implanted to ensure successful business and trade continuity when disasters occur."
Ghada Abdel Rahman Subaie, chief governance officer at Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA), called for streamlining risk management and stressed the importance of good governance in all aspects of business. She called for an immediate need for establishing independent risk management institutions. "Internal evaluations should be considered a priority and encouraged inside companies, also a good company governance has to be activated and encouraged so it can review organizational entities and assure its independence and solve internal conflicts."
