Why Middle East businesses must think like hackers to stay safe

As governments and enterprises across the Middle East accelerate their digital transformation journeys, the cyber threat landscape is evolving just as rapidly.

- BY DMITRY VOLKOV

The region's ambition to build smart economies, powered by artificial intelligence, automation and data-driven services, is also creating new attack surfaces for threat actors.

Group-IB's recent Intelligence Insights: Cyber Threat Landscape in Mena and Pakistan report reveals the growing sophistication of cybercriminals and the scale of their operations. Between January and July 2025 alone, over 42 million accounts were compromised globally, while more than 224,000 bank cards were exposed - a 122 per cent surge in fraud activity.

Cybersecurity is no longer the exclusive domain of IT or security teams. In today's interconnected economy, every business function, from operations to finance, plays a role in defending digital assets. The most resilient organisations are those that think like hackers: anticipating threats, testing defences and viewing vulnerabilities as opportunities for improvement rather than weaknesses to hide.

Phishing: Biggest threat