UAE businesses are increasingly focusing on eliminating cybersecurity threats. However, despite increased commitments from high management and access to larger funds, most UAE cybersecurity experts feel overpowered by the rapidly growing cyber threats, with 53% of respondents saying they are “fighting a losing battle against cybercriminals.” This was one of the key findings in a global study commissioned by Trellix.

While 56% of cybersecurity professionals admitted that security threats evolve so rapidly that they’re struggling to keep up, about two-thirds (67%) of respondents from the UAE reported regular meetings on cybersecurity and compliance with senior executives, according to the report. 

Around 70% of respondents from the UAE indicated an increase in their organization’s investments in cybersecurity over the previous 12 months.

Respondents broadly acknowledged the need for reform in the UAE. Around 57% stated that their current security approach needed to be improved to adequately anticipate, identify, and respond to threats as they occurred. This cybersecurity gap is affecting UAE organizations’ bottom lines and taking a toll on cybersecurity professionals, with 54% of respondents listing being constrained by their infrastructure’s limitations as one of their biggest work frustrations. Additionally, 80% of respondents admitted that their organization lost up to 10% of revenue in the previous year due to security breaches.

The results show that 60% of UAE SecOps teams are limited by a patchwork of security technologies with few integration possibilities. Fewer than a fifth (22%) are actively working toward eliminating silos, and just one in nine (11%) have succeeded. A third (67%) of firms do not want to eliminate silos, which worsens the situation.

“Siloed security systems hand easy victories to threat actors and make life harder for SecOps teams everywhere. And yet many businesses seem prepared to accept siloed security rather than updating their security architecture to connect the dots and enable adaptive security. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Organizations that do not move purposefully towards a more integrated security model are painting a target on their back as an open invitation to cybercriminals,” said Vibin Shaju, general manager, UAE at Trellix.

About 42% of cybersecurity experts in the UAE describe their daily routine as being “inundated by a never-ending torrent of cyberattacks,” and 69% say they deal with up to 50 cybersecurity incidents daily. A little more than a third (36%) of respondents said their security ecosystem does match their present demands, but they are concerned about their future capabilities if they stick with the same security suite.

The report surveyed 9,000 cybersecurity specialists working in companies with 500 or more workers in 15 countries, including the UAE.