Cyber attacks on financial institutions surged 238 per cent globally between February and April last year, as more consumers began transacting online at the peak of coronavirus-induced lockdowns, according to cyber security firm VMware Carbon Black.
Last month, the Central Bank of the UAE and the UAE Banks Federation conducted a ‘cyber war gaming’ exercise or a simulation drill to assess the preparedness of the country's banking sector amid potential cyber threats.
“The war gaming exercise as a community has never been more important … in order to rehearse, train, test our ecosystems, make quicker decisions and build muscle memory,” Mohammed Darwish Azad, group chief information and security officer of Emirates NBD, Dubai's biggest lender by assets, said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated digitisation – a trend that was already underway in the UAE – at an unprecedented rate.
“Digital banking offers customers convenience and faster processing of financial transactions … it [also] heightens vulnerabilities that banks spend years pre-empting and preparing for,” Hariprasad Chede, head of information security risk at National Bank of Fujairah, said.
The National looks at the importance of cyber simulation drills in the banking sector.
What is cyber war gaming?
It involves a cyber attack orchestrated through KPMG’s proprietary platforms that includes multiple scenarios and attack vectors such as malicious email attachments, pop-up messages and chat rooms.
All participating banks respond to these scenarios, testing their incident response and crisis management capabilities in real time.
“The cyber simulation is [a] cross-functional exercise … it requires us to conduct detailed planning, complex scenario building, designing the cyber range for technical teams, training and awareness, testing the range and collaborating across banks,” said Mr Azad, who is also the UBF's information security chairperson.
Banks’ response
In the last month’s drill, technical team members from different banks were challenged to react to real life scenarios by detecting, containing and responding to diverse online threats.
Management and executive management team members were challenged to collaborate, apply their respective cyber response strategies and take quick decisions at critical moments.
“Our preparations involved constant dry runs and connecting the story line before the training and simulation days … [and] supporting our leaders to power through the exercise,” Mr Azad said.
Top takeaways
Cyber resilience is critical for modern financial systems, as disruptions can have a “far-reaching impact for banks and the economy”, according to Jamal Saleh, UBF director general. He added that the Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of cyber resilience to protect the integrity of the banking system.
Cyber war gaming is one of the tools to help the banking sector test and evaluate institutional preparedness, he said.
“Conducting simulation drill of multiple scenarios and attack vectors is one of the innovative ways to collaborate at the national level with banks and relevant stakeholders to deal with cyber threat scenarios,” Mr Saleh said.
Effective communication and being prepared for the unknown are important to deal with such crises, Mr Azad said.
How serious is the threat?
A 2019 report by Accenture revealed that the average annualised cost of cyber crime for financial organisations worldwide increased to $18.5 million – the highest of all industries included in the study. It was almost 40 per cent higher than the average cost of $13m per firm across other industries.
“Our biggest strength is the culture we have built with our employees, partners and customers as we continue to invest in awareness campaigns and sessions to ensure they are fully equipped to counter potential cyber security threats,” Mr Chede said.
“As a result, after measuring our staff’s readiness to cyber security, we can report that their ability to mitigate threats has increased by 90 per cent over the last five years,” he added.
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Generational responses to the pandemic
Devesh Mamtani from Century Financial believes the cash-hoarding tendency of each generation is influenced by what stage of the employment cycle they are in. He offers the following insights:
Baby boomers (those born before 1964): Owing to market uncertainty and the need to survive amid competition, many in this generation are looking for options to hoard more cash and increase their overall savings/investments towards risk-free assets.
Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980): Gen X is currently in its prime working years. With their personal and family finances taking a hit, Generation X is looking at multiple options, including taking out short-term loan facilities with competitive interest rates instead of dipping into their savings account.
Millennials (born between 1981 and 1996): This market situation is giving them a valuable lesson about investing early. Many millennials who had previously not saved or invested are looking to start doing so now.
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
INVESTMENT PLEDGES
Cartlow: $13.4m
Rabbitmart: $14m
Smileneo: $5.8m
Soum: $4m
imVentures: $100m
Plug and Play: $25m
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Teams in the EHL
White Bears, Al Ain Theebs, Dubai Mighty Camels, Abu Dhabi Storms, Abu Dhabi Scorpions and Vipers
What is a Ponzi scheme?
A fraudulent investment operation where the scammer provides fake reports and generates returns for old investors through money paid by new investors, rather than through ligitimate business activities.
LA LIGA FIXTURES
Friday
Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)
Valencia v Levante (midnight)
Saturday
Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)
Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)
Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)
Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)
Sunday
Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)
Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)
Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)
The%20Beekeeper
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F1 drivers' standings
1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 281
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 247
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes 222
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull 177
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 138
6. Max Verstappen, Red Bull 93
7. Sergio Perez, Force India 86
8. Esteban Ocon, Force India 56
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre, twin-turbocharged V8
Transmission: nine-speed automatic
Power: 630bhp
Torque: 900Nm
Price: Dh810,000
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
RESULT
Uruguay 3 Russia 0
Uruguay: Suárez (10'), Cheryshev (23' og), Cavani (90')
Russia: Smolnikov (Red card: 36')
Man of the match: Diego Godin (Uruguay)
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
ETFs explained
Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.
ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.