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Positive Technologies: 80% of Cyberattacks in the Middle East Result in Confidential Data Breaches

Published

1 year ago

May 7, 2025

Positive Technologies, a leader in result-driven cybersecurity, has conducted a study on cyberthreats facing countries in the Middle East. The study examines the impact of digital transformation, the rise of organized cybercrime, and the dynamics of the underground market in the region. One in three successful cyberattacks in the Middle East was carried out by APT groups that commonly target government institutions and critical infrastructure. While the rapid adoption of new IT solutions in the region boosts efficiency across industries, it also increases their exposure to cyberattacks.

Cybercriminals heavily relied on social engineering (61% of cases) and malware (51%), often combining the two methods. Remote access trojans (RATs) were the primary weapon in 27% of malware-based attacks. The widespread use of RATs suggests that attackers often aimed to maintain long-term access to their victims’ systems.

The analysis shows that 80% of cyberattacks on organizations in the Middle East resulted in the breaches of confidential information. Hackers were mostly interested in credentials and trade secrets (29% each), as well as personal data (20%). In most cases, the stolen data was used for blackmail or sold on the dark web. The second major consequence of attacks (38% of cases) was the disruption of core business operations. Such disruptions were particularly harmful in sectors like healthcare, transportation, and government services, where even brief downtime can have serious real-world consequences.

APT groups are the most dangerous threat actors in the region because of their significant financial resources and advanced technical skills. In 2024, these groups accounted for 32% of all recorded cyberattacks, with a particular focus on government institutions and critical infrastructure. These attacks often went beyond standard cybercrime, taking the form of cyberespionage or even cyberwarfare. Their goal was not only to steal information but to undermine trust in government organizations and demonstrate power in the digital realm.

The analysis of the dark web revealed mentions of attacks on a wide range of industries in the region. Government organizations were the most frequently targeted (34%), followed by the industrial sector (20%). Hacktivists, in particular, were very active on underground forums. Unlike regular cybercriminals, they are driven by ideological motives rather than financial gain. They often share stolen databases for free, making the cybercrime situation worse by giving many other criminals access to the stolen data.

The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar—leaders in digital transformation—were the most frequently mentioned countries on the dark web. Experts point out that the frequent ads for selling stolen data from these countries highlight the challenges of securing expanding digital environments. Cybercriminals are quick to exploit the vulnerabilities that come with rapid digitalization.

Positive Technologies analyst Alexey Lukash said: “In the near future, we expect cyberthreats in the Middle East to grow both in scale and sophistication. As digital transformation efforts expand, so does the attack surface, creating more opportunities for hackers of all skill levels. Governments in the region need to focus on protecting critical infrastructure, financial institutions, and government systems. The consequences of successful attacks in these areas could have far-reaching implications for national security and sovereignty.”

To help organizations build stronger defenses against cyberthreats, Positive Technologies recommends implementing modern security measures. These include vulnerability management systems to automate asset management, as well as identify, prioritize, and remediate vulnerabilities. Positive Technologies also suggests using network traffic analysis tools to monitor network activity and detect cyberattacks. Another critical layer of protection involves securing applications. Solutions such as PT Application Firewall and PT Application Inspector are designed to identify vulnerabilities in applications, detect suspicious activity, and take immediate action to prevent attacks.

Positive Technologies emphasizes the need for a comprehensive, result-driven approach to cybersecurity. This strategy is designed to prevent attackers from disrupting critical business processes. Scalable and flexible, it can be tailored to individual organizations, entire industries, or even large-scale digital ecosystems like nations or international alliances. The goal is to deliver clear, measurable results in cybersecurity—not just to meet compliance standards or rely on isolated technical fixes.

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Datadobi Adds Data Access Governance to StorageMAP, Enabling Enterprises to Answer the Critical Question: “Who Has Access to What?”

Published

2 days ago

September 26, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

Datadobi, a leader in the Data Storage Management Services space, today announced the general availability of Data Access Governance (DAG) within StorageMAP. The new capability gives organizations visibility into who has access to their unstructured data and whether that access aligns with corporate policy. It extends Datadobi’s ability to help enterprises discover, align, and operationalize data across fragmented environments as their intelligence and orchestration layer.

As AI initiatives, cyber threats, and rising data complexity expose the limits of traditional approaches, DAG addresses a critical gap: organizations cannot govern, protect, or extract value from data they cannot see or control. As AI initiatives, cyber threats, and rising data complexity expose the limits of traditional approaches, DAG addresses a critical gap: organizations cannot govern, protect, or extract value from data they cannot see or control.

StorageMAP’s DAG capability gives administrators comprehensive visibility into access permissions across fragmented unstructured data environments. By surfacing who has access to what data, and whether that access aligns with business and security policy. Organizations can detect misaligned permissions, reduce cyber exposure, and enforce governance at scale. This visibility is the essential first stage of the broader DSMS discipline — visibility, understanding, decision, execution — that determines whether organizations can act on their data with confidence.

The introduction of DAG extends StorageMAP’s existing capabilities across data discovery, classification, risk assessment, lifecycle management and AI Data Readiness. Together, these capabilities help organizations to discover what data they have, align it with business value and risk requirements, and operationalize policy-driven action across their environments. The result is unstructured data that supports AI initiatives, strengthens cyber resilience, reduces cost, and drives long-term business value rather than holding it back.

DAG, which was trialed by a number of beta customers, supports a range of enterprise use cases, from protecting sensitive data and reducing breach impact, to maintaining records compliance and managing risk through mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. Early access customers identified a gap in their understanding of which critical datasets were exposed and who could access them, often relying on manual investigation to respond to audits and security incidents.

With Datadobi’s DAG capabilities, these organizations quickly identify overexposed data and validate access controls to proactively strengthen their security posture. For organizations investing in AI, it provides the governance foundation that trusted, well-governed data requires. And for those subject to data protection regulations (such as GDPR, HIPAA, or PCI DSS), it delivers the visibility needed to demonstrate that access controls are in place, operating as intended, and aligned with business policy.

“Unstructured data is at the center of every major enterprise challenge right now including AI readiness, cyber resilience, cost management, and regulatory compliance,” said Michael Jack, Co-founder and Chief Revenue Officer for Datadobi. “But organizations cannot address any of those challenges with data they cannot see or control. Data Access Governance gives teams the visibility to understand who has access to what, identify where risk exists, and take action to bring their unstructured data under control. It is a foundational step in turning unstructured data from a source of risk and complexity into a driver of business value.”

Tech News

Cloudera and Muroon Announce Strategic MoU

Published

3 days ago

September 25, 2026

Integrator Web-Editor

In a strategic move to advance enterprise digital enablement and support the technological ambitions of Saudi Vision 2030, Cloudera, the only true hybrid platform for data, analytics, and AI, has agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MuroonI the technology and digital enablement subsidiary of Tawuniya.

The proposed collaboration aims to evaluate opportunities to help organizations across the region modernize their technology capabilities, accelerate digital transformation, and unlock long-term business value. By leveraging Cloudera’s products and services, the engagement will explore how Cloudera’s hybrid data platforms and AI-driven analytics can help to boost Muroon’s expanding IT and digital enablement objectives.

Under the proposed partnership, Muroon and Cloudera will aim to collaborate on delivering secure data exchange and modern cloud architecture. Integrating Cloudera Anywhere Cloud™ principles, the proposed collaboration will explore ways to deliver a consistent cloud experience, enabling organizations to deploy AI and analytics workloads across private data centers and cloud environments with unified governance and security.

The proposed alliance creates complementary roles for both organizations. Muroon will leverage its delivery capabilities, consulting expertise, implementation services, across the Tawuniya ecosystem and the wider region. Cloudera will look to provide technology leadership, platform expertise, solution architecture, and technical enablement.

Ahmad Shakora, General Vice President of META, Cloudera, said:
“Our proposed collaboration with Muroon represents an important milestone in empowering regional organizations with modern hybrid data and AI architectures. Through Cloudera’s ability to bring AI and analytics to data anywhere it resides, combined with Muroon’s deep digital enablement and implementation capabilities, we aim to accelerate innovation, ensure secure data management, and actively contribute to the digital economy goals of Saudi Vision 2030.”

Faisal Bakhsh, Vice President of Business Development and Services Delivery at Muroon, added:
“As the technology arm of Tawuniya Group, Muroon is dedicated to delivering cutting-edge digital solutions that drive operational efficiency and business growth. Exploring this partnership with Cloudera allows us to harness world-class hybrid data and AI platforms to expand our service capabilities, facilitate secure data exchange, and deliver transformative value to our ecosystem and clients across Saudi Arabia.”