KSA ranks 1st in the EMEA region for malicious activity per broadband subscriber

ISTR 13 shows the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has overtaken the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to take top spot in Europe, Middle East and Africa for malicious activity per broadband subscriber for the second half of 2007, with 33%.

The Kingdom now ranks 32nd in the world, up a phenomenal 28 places from June 2007.

'In Saudi Arabia, there are over 22 ISPs as a result of deregulation. The increased investment in telecommunications infrastructure, together with a rise in the number of 'Internet-enabled' businesses and users, has made the Kingdom an attractive target for attackers and malware infections. This has indirectly brought about a surge in malicious activity, a trend we see globally,' said Kevin Isaac, Regional Director, Symantec MENA.

'Additionally, people are encouraged to use the Internet in KSA especially through education programmes, and there is tremendous interest in online trading and e-government initiatives. The volume of new users on the Internet is therefore increasing very rapidly, which leads to the need for greater online safety education and stronger security practices amongst business and users alike'.

Saudi Arabia is an early adopter of the latest ICT technology such as broadband and 3.5G. More users online, and larger data pipes, allow for faster access and more targets for malicious activity.

Attackers worldwide are still largely opportunistic, and countries that have good Internet infrastructure and relatively new cybercrime legislation such as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are more appealing countries from which to launch or host malicious activities.

Saudi Arabia has only recently introduced cybercrime related legislation, and until such time as the legislation is shown to be enforced; opportunistic attackers will still target or use such countries for their misdeeds.

'Effective security awareness campaigns, value added security offerings from ISPs, and enforcement of the cybercrime legislation will go a long way to help slow this trend,' concluded Isaac.

Globally, Saudi Arabia ranked 35th for malicious code, 41st for spam zombies, 55th for phishing website hosts and 56th for bots.