By Ron Chen, Correspondent ASEAN Region

One of the global leaders  in cyber protection, Acronis has started its #CyberFit Summit Dubai — the third stop in the Acronis World Tour, an ongoing industry event series dedicated to bringing cyber protection to businesses everywhere. Marking the start of the event, the company has released its annual Acronis Cyberthreats Report 2022, an in-depth review of cybersecurity trends and threats worldwide.

Key trends of 2021 — and predictions for 2022

• Phishing remains the main attack vector – 94% of malware gets delivered by email
• Ransomware is still the #1 threat — to big companies and SMBs alike
• Cryptocurrency among the attackers’ favourite playing cards
• Growing need for cyber protection in MEA: two data centers opening

Overall, in terms of cybersecurity, this year was the worst on record; not just for many organizations, but for many countries as well — including the UAE, a country now pushing to fight the global “cyber pandemic.” And despite their best effort, as Acronis’ own recent survey shows, 25 per cent of people in UAE still do not use any cyber protection tools.

Malware attacks remain a global phenomenon, and every country has to fight it. Reviewing the normalized malware detection in our research, we saw countries like Taiwan, Singapore, China, and Brazil with over a 50 per cent detection rate. However, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region also rank fairly high on the list, with the UAE at 38 per cent; South Africa at 36 per cent; and Saudi Arabia at 29 per cent.