Booz Allen Hamilton urges Middle East businesses to tighten security

Abu Dhabi, August 29^th 2012: In the wake of recent cyber attacks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the recent discovery of the Shamoon malware virus which has targeted energy companies, Roger Cressey, Senior Vice President of global consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton emphasizes that the threat of cyber attacks in the Middle East cannot be ignored.

Roger Cressey, senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, and an internationally known counterterrorism and cyber security expert, says that corporations operating in the region can learn from others' inability to prevent these attacks and, in doing so, protect the region's hard-earned intellectual capital as well as their financial and political stability.

Cressey commented: "The effects of last week's hacker attacks in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia serve as a reminder that no business in the Middle East is immune from security threats. Among MENA clients we talk to, the number one mistake they make is to believe that cyber attacks and cyber espionage are a 'Western' problem and not issues that affect the Middle East. The fact is that coordinated cyber attacks can bring any business, anywhere, to its knees."

Cressey also underlined another common misconception: that security attacks are uncoordinated and lack purpose. Much talked-about 'script kiddies' and teenage hackers can mask the real threat posed by cyber-espionage. This threat is especially strong in rapidly growing sectors such as oil and gas that operate in multiple locations, or to businesses that might be adopting cloud-based ICT infrastructures to help them spread/share data across multiple locations and help company users access data wirelessly. Countless organizations all over the Middle East are doing exactly this, and while cloud computing is a simple concept, the security needed to underpin it must be sophisticated and comprehensive.

Attacks carried out by young politically-motivated hackers such as the ones that grabbed headlines in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia last week do expose the security weaknesses that organizations have, but Booz Allen Hamilton advises Middle East businesses to remember that cyber espionage is a far more important threat -- that attacks are often highly targeted and that effective attacks are more often carried out for monetary gains than for political reasons.

Cressey concluded: "The Gulf represents a prime target for attacks, with the region's economic strength and widespread usage of social media making it an attractive target. Unscrupulous competitors, disgruntled employees and the stakes to be gained from stealing valuable data from oil companies or the banking sector are a significant threat. Businesses need to reinforce their defences inside and out, and what happened last week in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gives a perfect wake-up call to many that think they are already strong enough to withstand attack."

Booz Allen Hamilton, www.boozallen.com, has been at the forefront of strategy and technology consulting for nearly a century. Today, Booz Allen is a leading provider of management and technology consulting services to the US and international government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets, and to major corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. We have a Middle East headquarters office in Abu Dhabi, and staff also operating in Qatar, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. The firm is a well-known, trusted, and long-term partner to our clients, who seek our expertise and objective advice to address their most important and complex problems.

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About Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen Hamilton is a leading provider of management and technology consulting services to the U.S. government in defense, intelligence, and civil markets, and to major corporations, institutions, and not-for-profit organizations. Booz Allen is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, employs approximately 25,000 people, and had revenue of $5.86 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2012.

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