25,000 e-crime reports registered in Dubai as cyber attacks increase during pandemic

Dubai Police registered 25,000 e-crime reports last year, as cyber criminals exploited the disruption caused by Covid-19 around the world.

The pandemic exposed a barrage of cyber security vulnerabilities in the Middle East and hackers took advantage of the uptake in digital adoption, a senior official said on Monday.

Col Saeed Al Hajri, director of the Cybercrime Department at Dubai Police, said that since the e-crime platform was established in 2018, reports have increased each year, with 2020 accounting for the highest case numbers yet.

He said phishing and ransomware incidents were some of the most common forms of attack in the country.

When it comes to cyber security, it's a cat and mouse game between criminals and policing authorities

“As well as facing a biological pandemic, we have been faced with a cyber pandemic too,” Col. Al Hajri said at the Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference (Gisec) in Dubai.

“When it comes to cyber security, it’s a cat and mouse game between criminals and policing authorities. We have to keep implementing preventive and proactive methods to keep data and individuals safe.

“In 2018 we introduced a unified reporting platform for transparency for the public, the e-crime service. In its first year we registered 3,000 cases, in 2019 that number increased to 14,000, and last year a record 25,000 cases were reported.”

The comments offer an insight into the increasingly challenging cyber security environment in the Middle East.

A life spent online

Dr Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, head of cyber security for the UAE government. Supplied

The UAE has one of the highest digital adoption rates in the region. Data from the World Digital Report 2021 shed light on the web-based lifestyle of 43 countries in 2020, including the UAE.

The average resident in the Emirates spent seven hours and 24 minutes online a day last year. According to the report, 99 per cent of people in the UAE are active on social media and 97.6 per cent are smartphone owners.

Speaking at Gisec, Dr Mohamed Al-Kuwaiti, head of cyber security for the UAE government, said Covid-19 had fundamentally changed the way we work and live.

In the past year, the UAE has recorded a “300 per cent increase in cyber attacks”, and that frequency is likely to grow as the digital revolution continues.

“This past year has taught us that we are not only in the midst of a pandemic but in the midst of a digital revolution too,” he said.

“While technology advancement may be deemed a saviour in that it allowed us to continue working and learning remotely from home, the heavier reliance on technology and the internet has exposed new vulnerabilities.

“Securing the cyber landscape is a necessity in protecting the connected population.”

He said as cyber threats become increasingly sophisticated, it is crucial that countries collaborate to be more resilient.

While hackers will always find ways to breach systems, international knowledge sharing will help governments keep abreast of new attacks.

Speaking alongside Col. Al-Hajri, Craig Jones, cyber crime director for Interpol in Singapore, said countries need to be more "willing to share data" - from policing authorities to public or private entities - to help understand how criminals are attacking local communities.

“It is about understanding local communities and what crimes are specifically impacting a population,” he said.

“We can analyse this activity with vital data, so the priority is on how we can change policing models and introduce and encourage this ‘dare to share’ model internationally.

“Nowadays, cyber criminals work as a business model so we want to disrupt that model. It is very challenging.”

What are the top cyber vulnerabilities in 2021?

Social engineering, phishing and spear phishing are three ways in which a web user's data might be stolen. REUTERS /Kacper Pempel

1. Social engineering

Social engineering is the term used for a broad range of malicious activities accomplished through human interactions, rather than technical hacking techniques. It is one of the most common forms of attacks on individuals.

It uses psychological manipulation to trick users into making security mistakes or give away sensitive information, such as bank account details and passwords. Social engineering attacks happen in one or more steps.

On the phone - a social engineer might call and pretend to be a fellow employee or a trusted outside authority (such as law enforcement or bank employee).
In the office – a criminal might claim to have forgotten their access card to enter a building. While the person asking may not seem suspicious, this is a very common tactic used by social engineers.
Online - social networking sites have made social engineering attacks easier to conduct. Today's attackers can go to sites like LinkedIn and find all of the users that work at a company and gather plenty of detailed information that can be used to further an attack.

2. Phishing

This is a technical attack where a victim is targeted via email or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure them into providing sensitive data.

This could include personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords.

3. Spear phishing

Spear phishing is an email or electronic communications scam targeting a specific individual, organisation or business.

Although often intended to steal data for malicious purposes, cybercriminals may also intend to install malware on a targeted user’s computer.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Moral education needed in a 'rapidly changing world'

Moral education lessons for young people is needed in a rapidly changing world, the head of the programme said.

Alanood Al Kaabi, head of programmes at the Education Affairs Office of the Crown Price Court - Abu Dhabi, said: "The Crown Price Court is fully behind this initiative and have already seen the curriculum succeed in empowering young people and providing them with the necessary tools to succeed in building the future of the nation at all levels.

"Moral education touches on every aspect and subject that children engage in.

"It is not just limited to science or maths but it is involved in all subjects and it is helping children to adapt to integral moral practises.

"The moral education programme has been designed to develop children holistically in a world being rapidly transformed by technology and globalisation."