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FINAL WORD
Kuwaiti
government
bodies under
attack from
cybercriminals
The Middle East has seen a recent
increase in the number of nation state
attacks, in line with geopolitical tensions
in the region. We caught up with Alister
Shepherd – Director, Middle East and
Africa, for Mandiant, the consulting arm
of FireEye, to find out about the regional
threat landscape and what it’s really like
to be on the frontline of incident response.
A
cybersecurity expert from Mandiant says government
organisations in Kuwait are being targeted by
cybercriminals. Alister Shepherd – Director, Middle East and
Africa, for Mandiant, the consulting arm of FireEye, says government
bodies in the country have been targeted while there is also a need
for increased cybersecurity spending in Kuwait.
“We’ve seen a lot of targeting of government entities in Kuwait,” said
Shepherd. “It’s definitely being targeted. We’re seeing quite a lot of
what look to be successful attacks.”
He added that some of these attacks have come from known APT
groups and nation-states and emphasised the need for the country
to increase spending on cybersecurity in Kuwait.
“I think Kuwait, within that GCC and Middle East context, is lagging
behind the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the UAE in terms of
investment and approach to cybersecurity,” he said. “If you look at
the UAE and KSA in terms of government investment and support
these are way ahead.
“I think in this region (the Middle East), more than any other, we see
nation state actors as the primary threat. The geopolitical situation
here leads to increased threat and we see a correspondingly high
volume of nation state attributed attacks.”
We asked Alister Shepherd further questions about the cybersecurity
scene in the region.
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