Mideast firms urged caution against cyber attack

Many companies are unaware of the danger of serious network attacks, and this could lead to disastrous consequences, paper says.

May 22, 2000, 02:49 PM DUBAI (AROL) - Internet security experts have urged Middle East companies to raise their awareness to the danger of cyber attacks which may wreak financial devastation, according to the Gulf News daily paper. Alex Boagaerts, vice-president for Europe, Middle East and African operations of US-based Internet Security Systems, said many companies are unaware of the danger of serious network attacks, and this could lead to disastrous consequences when viruses and other network intrusion problems arise, the paper said.

"Our greatest competition is ignorance. Many say that they do not have a problem with their system because they have not seen the problem until they encounter a serious attack such as a virus, spoofing or denial of service," Boagaerts said, according to the paper.

"Nobody knows what the next attack look like, it's a chase between security companies and hackers. Some never thought that investing money for security is a priority," the paper said.

To step up awareness of network attacks among Gulf companies, the ISS recently set up a branch in the UAE with Paramount Computer Systems as the network solution partner for the UAE branch, the paper reported.

"As companies in the UAE move to adopt e-commerce and the government to e-governance, the enterprise networks are open to risks and threats that will be increasingly difficult to manage. Effective security management is critical to the success of e-business," Paramount Managing Director Harish Kunnath said, according to the paper.

http://www.arabia.com/article/0,1690,Business|20956,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), May 22, 2000