RIYADH: An information technology expert said a shortage of specialized cadres in information security has exposed government and service sector networks to spy and infiltration attacks.

Last week, the Electronic Security Center (ESC), an affiliate of the Interior Ministry, detected foreign attacks targeting the electronic networks of a number of government agencies and other vital sectors in the Kingdom.

Dr. Hani Al-Zaid, an expert in information security, told local media that the issue is linked to challenges facing the Saudization of technical jobs, notably those related to information security.

Based on his experience in the government sector, he said there were two challenges facing the Saudization of technical jobs: Shortage of specialized cadres in information security, and difficulty in the recruitment of qualified cadres due to limited privileges of such jobs.

To address the problem, he suggested the assignment of information security jobs in the government sector to government companies specialized in information security. This will help in rotating qualified cadres into such specialized jobs, safeguarding the secrecy of information circulated in the public sector, he said.

According to the ESC report last week, the foreign electronic attacks came on a number of governmental and service sector networks.

The governmental sector received 39 percent of the total electronic attacks, followed by the media sector (23 percent), the telecom and IT sector (15 percent), whereas the electricity and water sector was the least attacked at 8 percent, the ESC said.

Al-Zaid estimated the Kingdom’s losses arising from the electronic attacks at SR2.8 billion.

He stressed that the electronic attacks sustained by some government agencies necessitates the building of a national plan to qualify national cadres in information security.