Two billion dollars Saudi Arabia spent on cybersecurity

          An international conference ends in Riyadh with a call to empower women in information security            
           
At a time when specialists estimated that the volume of Saudi Arabia’s spending on cybersecurity reached nearly two billion dollars, a hypothetical international conference that ended in Riyadh yesterday called for the need to empower women in the fields of information security, at a time when Saudi Arabia is moving towards digital transformation in the private and public sector and facing threats Cyber ​​gawking and the application of the concept of "digital government". 

The Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones sponsored, for the past two days, the “Fairport” conference for information security solutions in the Middle East and North Africa, which was held hypothetically under the title “Evolution from cyber resistance to cyber resilience in the era of smart cities, digital economy and the Internet of things.”

The file of women’s empowerment was prominent in the field of information security, especially cybersecurity. Basma Ahmedoush, a cybersecurity advisor at the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, said in a session entitled “Women in Cyberspace” that women currently represent 24 percent of workers in this sector. Around the world, according to a study by a professional organization in cybersecurity. For her part, Dr. Fatima Al-Aqeel, President and Founder of Siyaj Group for Information Security, stressed during the session the importance of giving women more incentives in the field of cybersecurity.

Riyadh attaches great importance to cybersecurity and its impact on the countries of the world, as it has adopted this file on a number of occasions, including its hosting of the International Forum for Cybersecurity which was held in Riyadh last February, during which Prince Muhammad bin Salman, the Crown Prince, directed the adoption of two initiatives to serve global cybersecurity, The first was the initiative to protect children in the cyber world, by launching projects to lead efforts related to the protection of children in cyberspace, and the second initiative is to empower women in cybersecurity, with the aim of supporting them to actively participate in this field, enhance the professional development of women, and increase the human capital for cybersecurity.

Meanwhile, specialists expected that the volume of spending in Saudi Arabia on cybersecurity would reach; Two billion dollars, as Ihab Darbas, vice president of sales at the information company “Cyber ​​Knight”, indicated that the size of the Middle East cybersecurity market by the end of this year 2020 is about 16 billion dollars, and continues to grow to reach more than 28 billion dollars in 2025.

Derbas said that “Saudi Arabia is one of the largest markets in the region as a result of digital transformation strategies,” adding that the annual growth of the sector is not less than 12 percent, while the Kingdom has the largest share in the security market in the region due to the need to protect companies, industrial sectors, energy, government utilities, defense and the financial sector.

Derbas indicated that Saudi Arabia has made achievements and leaps in the global assessments of cybersecurity indicators by obtaining the 13th and first place in the Arab world, according to the global cybersecurity index issued by the International Telecommunication Union of the United Nations, adding that this was natural because Saudi Arabia has economic, political and religious dimensions as a goal for many Targeted cyber attacks targeting critical, government and financial sectors.

For his part, Tariq Kuzbari, General Manager of Cybergen, said that the volume of spending that countries around the world attach to cybersecurity, including Saudi Arabia, will be driven by spending on consulting, integration and managed security services, indicating that Saudi spending on cybersecurity for the current year represents an increase of 6.2 Almost 100 percent for spending $ 400 million in 2019. Kuzbari stressed that organizations will need to spend more, given that the world has become more dependent on technology as cybercriminals increase and their attacks intensify.