The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic worldwide has also led to the spread of a cyber pandemic, with an alarming increase in email security breaches, domain abuse and phishing attacks. With fraudulent emails being sent in bulk daily, Bahrain receives an incredulous amount of security threats every month. Your brand can be the next potential target!
Assessing the Threat Landscape
In the second quarter of 2020, a sum-total of 67,581 phishing attacks were reported across Bahrain as enlisted in zawya.com’s MENA legal risk article published in August 2020. This chilling discovery shocked businesses across Bahrain, highlighting the importance of DMARC implementation and enforcement. Security reports and researches unveiled that there is a steep surge in email security breaches ranging from HR dismissal emails to attacks disguised as delivery notifications.
With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, in Saudi Arabia alone, 973,061 phishing attacks were detected in just three months, followed by 617,347 attacks in the UAE, 492,532 in Egypt, 193,379 in Oman, 128,356 in Qatar, 106,245 in Kuwait, and 67,581 in Bahrain. It has also been estimated that banks in Bahrain receive an average of 2000 to 3000 security threats per month, with 68% of the banks in Asia still lacking DMARC adoption. Being the third-smallest nation in Asia, all of the registered domains in Bahrain are therefore at a serious risk of falling prey to impersonation, domain spoofing, and phishing attacks.
