Dubai, 1 March 2015: At a press briefing on 1 March 2015 Ovanes Mikhaylov, Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab in the Middle East, announced the company's focus on aggressive growth in the enterprise security sector across the region. He elaborated on the company's strategy to meet this target by combining innovation and intelligence with a boost in support for channel partners.

"In the last couple of years we have witnessed a surge in the frequency and complexity of cyber-attacks targeted at enterprises and governments in the Middle East, such as the Desert Falcons espionage campaign that was recently uncovered by our experts. This, together with the growing investments in 'smart city' initiatives across the region, demands a greater focus on cyber security, including awareness and protection of critical processes and information. At Kaspersky Lab we work with partners and customers to enable this state of advanced security both through our industry leading enterprise security portfolio and intelligent services, and by developing our channel partners across the region," said Ovanes Mikhaylov, Managing Director of Kaspersky Lab in the Middle East.

According to the 2014 Global Corporate IT Security Risks survey by Kaspersky Lab, 13% of businesses in the GCC reported experiencing a targeted attack in previous 12 months. 24% (27% globally) of businesses lost sensitive business data due to internal threats such as software vulnerability incidents, loss or theft of mobile devices, or accidental leaks by an employee. 26% (28% globally) reported some loss of sensitive data due to external threats such as malicious programs, hacking, phishing attacks and corporate espionage. The financial costs of a single data security incident were estimated at an average of $720,000 and damages from one successful targeted attack could cost a company up to $2.54 million.

To help enterprises and governments defend themselves against cyber security threats, Kaspersky Lab provides security intelligence services as well as the comprehensive integrated Kaspersky Endpoint Security for Business platform and a range of specialized targeted solutions, including its Light Agent virtualization solution and Kaspersky Fraud Prevention for banks.

Ovanes Mikhaylov also announced important improvements to the company's partner program, aimed at helping local partners protect their current investments and focus more on driving business growth. Kaspersky Lab is automating a number of processes, such as renewals, and is offering new tools and resources. Many of the enhancements are aimed at enabling partners to create comprehensive security portfolios that include a mix of advanced technologies: the company will provide partners with access to new Intelligence Services to enable them to extend the right combination of expertise, solutions and services to their customers.

Kaspersky Lab's Security Intelligence Services team constantly monitors the landscape to identify emerging threats and works out effective defenses against potential attacks. These services are available to both customers and partners to make informed decisions and improve enterprise security.

"We believe that our channel partners are capable of telling our story. This is why we are constantly updating our partner program and including new educational opportunities, as well as extra support and services in addition to monetary benefits. This helps our partners to build their own businesses by being able to combine products with intelligence services and knowledge," Ovanes added.

About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is the world's largest privately held vendor of endpoint protection solutions. The company is ranked among the world's top four vendors of security solutions for endpoint users*. Throughout its more than 17-year history Kaspersky Lab has remained an innovator in IT security and provides effective digital security solutions for large enterprises, SMBs and consumers. Kaspersky Lab, with its holding company registered in the United Kingdom, currently operates in almost 200 countries and territories across the globe, providing protection for over 400 million users worldwide. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.

* The company was rated fourth in the IDC rating Worldwide Endpoint Security Revenue by Vendor, 2013. The rating was published in the IDC report "Worldwide Endpoint Security 2014-2018 Forecast and 2013 Vendor Shares (IDC #250210, August 2014). The report ranked software vendors according to earnings from sales of endpoint security solutions in 2013.

For further information please contact: Baseem Ayache, Associate, Golin, Dubai: +971 55 3966449, KasperskyTeam@golin.ae

© Press Release 2015