Middle East region has yet to implement comprehensive security regulations : Deloitte survey
Middle East region has yet to implement comprehensive security regulations : Deloitte survey
With a number of recent high-profile code thefts driving headlines across the globe, senior security executives at some of the world’s largest financial institutions say they are making it a priority to invest in identity and access management tools, according to a Deloitte survey.
According to Deloitte’s 2010 annual security survey for global financial institutions, entitled "The Faceless Threat," identity and access management was identified by survey respondents as the industry’s top security initiative for 2010. Among 19 different types of initiatives, 44 percent listed this as their top initiative; it is also a significantly higher priority for larger organizations with more than 10,000 employees (63 percent).
Joe el Fadl, partner in charge for the Financial Services Industry (FSI) at Deloitte in the Middle East said: "The Middle East region is reacting fast to key technology and security aspects, and is the region where a lot is most likely to be achieved in a short time: the UAE has created a governance process for technology at the national level and has recently established a Computer Emergency Response Team; similarly, Saudi Arabia is investing heavily in technology in general and security in particular. Central Banks in the region are acting with high degree of scepticism and are giving serious considerations to security environment and we have seen Central Banks in the region taking steps by issuing circulars and directives to banks and other regulated businesses on various security related matters".
Tariq Ajmal, Deloitte partner in charge of Technology Services in the Middle East, commented on the Middle East region results saying: "This is the first year the survey includes the Middle East as a separate region given the tremendous response and interest shown in completing this survey. While other regions across the globe have more robust security and privacy legislation, the Middle East has yet to implement comprehensive security regulations. The region lags behind in terms of having a formally approved and documented information security strategy (47%)".
"Institutions are far less confident that traditional controls will protect them, and with good reason," says Adel Melek, DTT Enterprise Risk Services, Global Financial Services Industry Leader. "In the early days of information security, access control performed the function of a gatekeeper, essentially keeping the bad guys out. But it has now evolved far beyond that, especially in terms of more sophisticated levels of access, better access control reporting, and the ability to track what events took place, when, and by whom. Today, many organizations realize that simply entering a user ID and password is no longer adequate, especially for customers and business partners." Security budgets also appear to be reversing the current trend of cost-cutting. More than half of the survey’s respondents (56 percent) indicate that their information security budget has increased. Additionally, there is a significant drop, as compared to last year, in the number of respondents who state that "lack of sufficient budget" is one of the major barriers that their organization faces.
The report says that this may well be due to an increasing "realization that, as the information security environment gets more dangerous, so investment in data protection must get more serious." "Organizations are starting to recognize the importance of the information security function to business," says Melek. "The increasing sophistication of faceless threats, the change in the threat agents and players, and the decreasing level of competence required to pose a threat due to the availability of fraud tools on the
Internet are all factors that have caused financial services organizations to evolve their security practices in many areas. The security environment is undergoing a metamorphosis."
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