Annual cost of cybercrime to hit $6tln by 2021

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Emirates Institute for Banking and Financial Studies (EIBFS), a regional leader in banking and finance education and training, hosted a cybersecurity conference for finance professionals in the UAE.

Convening local and global consultants, the event examined the challenges of cyberattacks and explored ways for financial institutions to build effective and comprehensive security strategies to combat real and potential threats.

More than 30 mid- to senior-level professionals representing key areas of the UAE banking and financial services sector, including operations, risk management, quality audit and IT, attended the conference. The experts discussed the cyberthreat landscape in the region, shared best practices for protecting the region’s banking and financial IT infrastructure, and suggested solutions to the challenges cybercrime presents.

Jamal Al Jassmi, General Manager said that EIBFS is committed to providing platforms for industry experts across diverse specialties to present their views and share their experiences with relevant stakeholders. “Today’s cybersecurity conference aims to facilitate the exchange of ideas on the proliferation of digital platforms and related vulnerabilities, and the best ways to address cybersecurity breaches and shield data from cyberattacks.”

Speakers and panelists included Mohammed Darwish Azad, Chief Information Security Officer at Emirates NBD, Hariprasad Chede, Chief Information Security Officer at National Bank of Fujairah, Sheikh Shadab Nawaz, Associate Director of Cyber Security at KPMG, and Praveen Joseph, Technical Manager for Cyber Security Consulting and Training at Ingram Micro.

Studies of Cybersecurity Ventures estimate that the costs of cybercrime damage will hit $6 trillion annually by 2021, and the number of people at risk is poised to reach about four billion by 2020 as a result of the rapid evolution of online piracy and other cyberattack techniques. Meanwhile, cybersecurity spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion between 2017 and 2021, and the number of unfilled cybersecurity jobs is set to more than triple, with a projected increase to 3.25 million by 2021, according to the same studies.