Increase in cyberattacks in Kingdom turns spotlight on digital forensics

With an increase in reliance on technology and cloud computing in various sectors and industries, and the growth of cryptocurrency, cyber threats and attacks, industrial espionage, information security breaches, identity fraud, financial fraud, and other illegal activities that involve the application of cyber forensics, are bound to expand. This is especially true in the post-COVID-19 era.

Digital or cyber forensics analysis is based on retrieving objective evidence of digital criminal activity. It includes all practices of collecting, identifying, extracting, and analyzing evidence from digital devices by highly skilled investigators to track the digital impact of the attack source using highly specialized tools and techniques to harvest data without tampering with evidence.

This type of evidence is currently used in criminal and civil cases and extensively in internal investigations in the private sector. It is considered one of the areas of cybersecurity, which has come into prominence due to the worldwide digital transformation.

The use of cyber forensics is growing with the increase in cybercrimes, whose damages are expected to reach up to $6 trillion annually in 2021.

The 9th edition of MENAISC2021 will spotlight forensics during its varied sessions, held from May 25 to 26. The event is titled “Cyber Security Vigilance … Continuous Monitoring & Mitigation – Understanding the Impact in a 5G Era” and will tackle several other related topics, including 5G networks, cybersecurity frameworks, artificial intelligence, analytics, cloud security, and virtualization, data security and privacy strategy, satellites and communications, human skills for cybersecurity, and advanced hacker threats. Registration is open to the leading conference for professionals around the region and the globe to attend the leading conference and learn a lot about analytics and forensics: https://www.virtualmenaisc.com/en/registration

A recent report titled “Global Digital Forensics Market 2019” focused on the current market scene, the size of its shares, drivers, trends, the dominant players in it, and its promising opportunities. Its scope included digital devices, software, and services, including forensic evidence for computers, mobile devices, networks, etc. According to the report, the value of this market in 2017 was about $143 billion. It is expected to reach $375 billion by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 329 percent during the projected period (2018-2023).

The relevant authorities in Saudi Arabia, such as the National Cybersecurity Authority, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology represented by the Saudi Digital Academy, the Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, and several major universities have launched specialized development plans and programs to qualify national cadres in the field of digital forensics analysis – an area whose significance has escalated since 2019 due to the rise in cyberattacks on various governmental and service sectors in the Kingdom.