A 100 Percent Infection Rate Across Regional Businesses Finds Trend Micro Survey

20 Percent of MENA Businesses Have Experienced More Than Three Security Breaches in the Past 12 Months, Finds Trend Micro Survey

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Trend Micro Inc. (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global cloud security leader, is concerned that regional governments and businesses are not taking web threats seriously, and the consequences are potentially disastrous.

A regional survey conducted over a period of 6 months, which looked at  different industry verticals including government, IT, engineering, FMCG, construction, automotive, oil and gas, manufacturing and  education,  by Trend Micro revels that the region has a 100 percent infection rate, with more than 20 percent of businesses experiencing an average of three security breaches in the past 12 months alone.

The survey also looked at cloud and virtualization needs of businesses and found that 52 percent of regional businesses already have a cloud service in place. Also, 19 percent of companies are not ready, whereas 27 percent are looking at virtualizations in the next 12 months.

Malware, which refers to a variety of forms of hostile or intrusive software, accounts for 70 percent of the security breaches.

The survey also revealed that 10 percent of businesses are worried about insider attacks here in the region. Data Loss remains the number one concern, with 26 percent citing this as the main security concern, followed closely by infections from emails at 25 percent. Whereas, concern for threats from hackers, was only 8 percent.

The United Arab Emirates has one of the highest infection rates in the region with over 34 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia at 18 percent.

“Getting the right internet security solutions is the first step to protecting ourselves. We have seen alarming lapses in security across the region. Businesses, government entities only look for security solutions after they have been infected, but by then the damage has already been done,” commented Ihab Moawad, Vice President of Mediterranean, Middle East, and Africa, Trend Micro.

“The visible infections in the region continue to grow year-on-year. As we become more dependent on the web, threats will only increase. We must educate ourselves and be better protected because the consequences are more than what individuals and businesses can afford,” added Moawad.

The Trend Micro survey reflects inputs from CIOs, IT managers, system engineers and consultants from numerous companies, across Middle East and North Africa.

Trend Micro has a stand at GITEX 2013 where  visitors to the event can learn how Trend Micro's innovative ‘Smart Protection Network,' a client-cloud solution identifies and responds to the next-generation web threats that exist today.

Another focus area for Trend will be Deep Discovery – a specialized security solution that uniquely detects and identifies evasive threats in real-time, then provides an in-depth analysis and actionable intelligence an organization needs to protect them. Deep Discovery is at the core of the Trend Micro Custom Defense solution, a complete network security strategy to detect, analyze, adapt, and respond to attackers.

As more and more consumers invest in smartphones, tablets, and other web-enabled mobile devices, enterprises of all sizes are being confronted and challenged by employees who want to use these same devices for full access to their professional lives, in addition to their personal ones.

This trend, the “consumerization” of enterprise mobility, represents a formidable challenge as well as a great opportunity for organizations. Visitors can learn how to harness the power inherent in consumerization and exploit its obvious benefit while trying to manage its potential hazards.

GITEX is taking place at Dubai International Conference and Exhibition Centre (DICEC) from 20 to 24 October 2013. As part of GITEX 2013, Trend Micro can be found at Hall 2, stand B2-2.