VP of Cyber Security at STC Solutions, Fahad Aljutaily, declared that increase in attacks against internet of things around the world reached 600% in 2017. China topped the list as an attack location by 21%, followed by the USA by 11% and Brazil by 6%.
In presentence of 25 journalists who attended a course in STC Academy titled “Cybersecurity - Risks and Challenges,” Aljutaily explained that 54% of the world's companies have been targeted by attacks that affected data or IT infrastructure. Additionally, global spending on cybersecurity reached $96 billion in 2018.
He also said, “By 2021, cybercrime damage is expected to reach $6 trillion per year, and jobs in cybersecurity jobs are expected to reach 3.5 million jobs.”
Aljutaily noted that the Middle East is facing a huge challenge in filling jobs in the field of cybersecurity, which is due to the lack of professionals available in this field. The GCC cybersecurity market is expected to exceed $8 billion in value in the coming years.
STC Media Club, in cooperation with STC Business Unit, held a training course for journalists, in which 25 journalists participated from various newspapers and satellite channels in the STC Academy headquarters. The course focused on the technical solutions adopted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in its digital transformation such as cybersecurity, big data, cloud computing, and Internet of things.
"Saudi Arabia is currently focusing on strengthening governance and building automated systems for all government services to improve services offered to citizens, especially in the areas of health care and education," said Talal Al-Bakr, VP of STC Digital Solutions. There are currently 29 digital initiatives in all sectors, and five governmental digital platforms under construction.
In a paper for the Director of Digital Solutions Abdulaziz AlAbdullatif, he pointed out that the Internet of things gives everything around us the ability to connect to the Internet, whether in finance, transport, industry, health care or other sectors. The revenues generated by the Internet of things technology in the Saudi market is estimated to reach SAR28 billion through more than 145 million connected devices by 2030.
"Big data is now the governments’ new fuel," said Rayyan Al-Khinini, Director of Digital Platform Management. "Since 2015, STC has been investing in this field by launching the Slicer platform, which provides statistics on 19 million customers within the network. It also provides population analysis and reports on regions which helps government agencies reach decisions regarding opening governmental branches to provide services to citizens.”
Mohammed Al-Obaid, Director of Advanced Services touched on Cloud Services saying "these services have expanded significantly over the past period and global spending on cloud services is projected to reach $206 billion in 2019"
At the conclusion of the training course, which was held for the first time during media sessions, the Senior Business Unit representative, Mr. Riad Moawad in the presence of the Director General of Corporate Communication, Mohammed Aba Al Khail, Mr. Abdulwahab Al Fayez and Mr. Musaed Al Osaimi from the Saudi Journalists Association honored the journalists participating in this course.
He also stressed that STC, as part of its important role as an enabler of digital transformation in the Kingdom, is keen to hold such media gatherings because of its belief in the importance of media in supporting Saudi Vision 2030 and achieving its goals
