UAE employees outperform European peers in cyber readiness: Cohesity study
This progress highlights the UAE's significant strides toward achieving its national vision for digital resilience and AI-powered cyber defence.
The study reflects the active efforts and sustained investments by the UAE government to strengthen its national cybersecurity capabilities, including developing regulatory frameworks and infrastructure.
Among the notable milestones is the implementation of advanced threat detection systems, under the supervision of the UAE Cyber Security Council, positioning the country as a regional model in cyber preparedness.
Conducted by Cohesity, a leading AI-powered data security firm, the study assessed full-time employees in the UAE, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. It evaluated their confidence in detecting and responding to cyberattacks.
The results showed that 86% of UAE employees expressed confidence in their ability to identify cyber threats, higher than the UK (81%), Germany (80%), and France (62%).
Furthermore, nearly 89% of UAE respondents said they trust their organisations' ability to prevent and recover from cyberattacks.
Encouraging behavioural indicators also emerged, with two-thirds of UAE employees stating they would report suspicious activity to their organisation's cybersecurity team. This compares to 61% in the UK, 53% in Germany, and 48% in France. Over half of the UAE respondents also said they would notify their IT department directly.
This proactive approach is attributed to continuous awareness and training programmes, with 66% of UAE employees reporting they had received some form of cybersecurity training within the past year.
Johnny Karam, Managing Director and Vice President, International Emerging Region at Cohesity, commented, 'The findings reflect the UAE's clear leadership in cybersecurity readiness across the Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region. With initiatives driven by the UAE Cybersecurity Council and a strong national focus on AI and digital transformation, it's no surprise that employee awareness is rising in step with enterprise investment.'
Mark Molyneux, CTO, EMEA at Cohesity, added, 'These findings confirm what we're seeing across the region: employees are increasingly aware of cyber risks and are willing to step up, which is largely due to the UAE Cyber Security Council's approach to increasing security awareness across the UAE."
'In fast-moving threat environments, AI-powered data security is not a luxury, it's an operational necessity,' he said.
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