Local banks in the Gulf and the region are increasingly likely to come under attack from homegrown hackers, a leading computer security provider has warned, Oman Observer reported Saturday.
According to Internet Security Systems (ISS), a US-based global Internet security provider, skill levels in Internet technology are growing among young people in the Middle East, increasing the number of people with the ability to perpetrate online crime.
Moustapha Sarhank, President of ISS Middle East was quoted by the daily as saying that “E-banking has become a major determinant for the success of any financial institution in the Middle East.”
He added that “now, as skill levels in the gulf grow, the threat of hacking is growing from within the region as much as from abroad. It is estimated that 60-70 percent of hacking incidents originate from people within the compromised organization.”
The Atlanta-based company was named worldwide leader in intrusion detection and vulnerability assessment in March 2001 by the American research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the daily said.
According to the US research organisation, IDC, the worldwide market for information security services in 1999 was $5.5 billion worldwide and this figure is expected to grow to $17.2 billion worldwide by 2004. It is expected that the security business will reach $100 million in value in the Middle East by the year 2004 – Albawaba.com
