You must be well aware that Oman is one of the best countries when it comes to cyber security. With the rapid advancement in technology over the past decade, the nation has been making tremendous efforts to ensure that the security and integrity of its systems are well protected.
According to a post from ITU, Oman is regarded as a country where organizations practice some of the best cyber security measures. The post further mentions that the country takes cyber security seriously and it conducts continuous audits and checks. Moreover, Oman compares itself to other countries to evaluate how well prepared they are.
The post quotes, “Oman also has an agreement with Ernst and Young to conduct a benchmark exercise under the Global Information Security Survey (GISS). The GISS provides organisation with an opportunity to compare themselves with others on important information security issues and gain insights for making key decisions through questions relates to security budget, investments, security governance, security effectiveness, maturity of security programs, security environment, and emerging technologies and trends.”
So, what does this tell you about cyber security in Oman?
Yes, they are putting every effort to secure the organizations against cyber threats, but the question is- Do cyber crimes take place in the country? Are cyber criminals still a threat to the nation? Can organizations in Oman still become a victim to cyber attacks with the current cyber security posture?
The answer is a big “YES” to all the questions!
Cyber crimes still take place and cyber criminals pose a big threat to the organizations in the nation.
Cyber Threats in Oman
According to the Times of Oman, in 2020, almost 58% of people in Oman witnessed scammers and fraudsters that tried to steal money and information. The article also states that as per a survey 45% of respondents came across the scammers themselves. The article further mentions that these criminal attempts have increased in the year 2020.
And as per another report from the Times of Oman, there were over 14 billion attempts to hack Oman’s cyber security in 2019.
This indicates that cyber criminals are not sitting idle but trying every possible method to find the organization’s cyber vulnerabilities. And it is worth noting that hackers are adopting newer technologies and more sophisticated methods.
So does this mean that organizations in Oman should be worried about cyber attacks?
I would say yes! If you are not 100% confident that your organization is well equipped to defend against any kind of cyber attacks. Being said that, don’t follow the myth that cyber criminals have never attempted to hack your organization and they will ever try.
Cyber criminals care less if your organization is small or big, private or government sector, as long as they can gain some profit attacking your organization, they will come for you.
Prevent Your Organization From Cyber Attacks
So what can an organization do to protect itself from these prevailing cyber threats?
To start with, an organization must first train its employees and be prepared to combat cyber criminals.
You must be well aware that “Humans are the Weakest Link in Cyber Security Chain”. But do you know they are also considered as the first line of defense of an organization against cyber threats? Ironically they are.
So to make this weakest link into the strongest one, cyber security awareness and training for the employees is a must!
Tools such as ThreatCop can help your organization train your employees effectively. With the help of the tool, you can simulate the latest and most common cyber attacks. Doing so will make the employees aware of how to identify a cyber attack and also educate them on how to avoid those.
The tool also assists in identifying the most vulnerable individuals or groups in the organization and provides them additional cyber security training required to make them cyber vigilant.
However, only cyber security awareness and training are not enough to protect the organization. This should go along with other best cyber security measures such as:
- Conducting VAPT periodically to identify the vulnerabilities in the organization’s IT infrastructure
- Securing outbound emails to protect against brand exploitation and also to prevent your customers and partners from falling prey to email attacks through your outbound emails
- Updating the software and hardware with the latest security patches whenever new updates are available
- Implementing firewalls to monitor and filter organization’s incoming and outgoing traffic
These cyber security measures are few among several that an organization needs to implement. However, these are basics that you shouldn’t overlook if you want to prepare your organization to combat cyber criminals. So, start implementing today!
Let me know what are your thoughts on this? Leave a comment down below.
