Email threats against global businesses surged by more than 64 per cent on an annualised basis last year, spurred by a rapid shift to remote working amid the Covid-19 pandemic, a survey suggests.
London cyber-security company Mimecast released its State of Email Security report on Tuesday.
It said hackers were quick to take advantage of users' weak security systems and employees’ vulnerability to clicking on malicious links embedded in the emails.
Mimecast did not disclose the exact number of email attacks against businesses last year.
“These exposure points are inflamed by so many companies rapidly adopting digital office models,” said Josh Douglas, vice president of threat intelligence at Mimecast.
"Leaving employees untrained and unprotected in this highly distributed digital environment puts organisations at risk of digital deception."
The coronavirus pandemic led to a huge shift in workplace patterns last year, with offices switching to remote working to stem the spread of the pandemic.
Some workers have returned to their offices but infection surges have kept others around the world shut or at half capacity.
Employees are also clicking on three times as many malicious emails as they had before the pandemic, the report showed.
Mimecast commissioned research company Vanson Bourne to conduct a global survey of 1,225 information technology and cyber-security professionals.
They came from the US, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa, the UAE, Canada, Sweden and Denmark.
Participants from the companies – which ranged from 250 to 500 employees – were interviewed in February and March.
The report does not disclose the number of respondents surveyed in each country.
The report also showed that the number of ransomware attacks rose globally because of working from home.
Ransomware is malware that encrypts a victim's files. The attacker then demands a ransom to restore the user's access.
Globally, almost 61 per cent of the surveyed companies were affected by a ransomware attack last year.
About half (52 per cent) of them paid the ransom but of those, only two thirds recovered their data.
Companies that experienced an attack lost an average of six working days, the report said.
In the UAE, 78 per cent of the companies polled said they were affected by a ransomware attack last year.
Nearly 43 per cent of victims in the UAE also admitted paying the ransom, but only 44 per cent of those were able to recover their data.
“Many companies are choosing to pay ransoms rather than risking extensive business downtime and expensive consulting fees to conduct self-remediation," Mr Douglas said.
"But this introduces its own set of risks, including threat actors not holding up their end of the bargain."
Paying ransom also makes companies “an attractive target for subsequent attacks, since they have demonstrated they are willing to pay”, he said.
Almost 71 per cent of the businesses surveyed globally are also worried about the safety of their archived business record of conversations, in tools such as Slack or Teams.
Nearly 70 per cent of global respondents believe that employee failings such as weak passwords are putting their companies at risk.
Only 50 per cent of the companies surveyed in the UAE consider employees’ naivety to be one of their biggest vulnerabilities.
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- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
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- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
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A foster couple or family must:
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- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
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Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
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Where: NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium, Kiev, Ukraine
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What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying or online bullying could take many forms such as sending unkind or rude messages to someone, socially isolating people from groups, sharing embarrassing pictures of them, or spreading rumors about them.
Cyberbullying can take place on various platforms such as messages, on social media, on group chats, or games.
Parents should watch out for behavioural changes in their children.
When children are being bullied they they may be feel embarrassed and isolated, so parents should watch out for signs of signs of depression and anxiety
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• Fungi account for roughly 90% of Earth's unknown biodiversity
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