end-point
ANALYSIS but vigilance against evolving threats like XSS and Directory Traversal remains crucial.
• UAE’ s escalating battle: In stark contrast, the UAE experienced a 15 % increase in internet traffic and a concurrent 63 % increase in cyberthreats blocked daily quarter-overquarter. This rapid escalation, particularly with a significant portion of blocked threats being DDoS attacks originating within the UAE, indicates a growing and active threat landscape. The top targeted verticals – Retail, Consumer Services, BFSI, and Information Services – point to financially motivated attacks and potentially data exfiltration attempts. The near-even split between DDoS mitigations and WAF rules( 50 % vs. 49 %) as primary defences signifies a dualpronged attack strategy by threat actors and a robust, albeit increasingly challenged, defence by UAE organisations. The prevalence of HTTP Anomaly, SQL Injection, and XSS as active WAF rules suggests continued attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in web applications.
Broader implications:
The Cloudflare report underscores several critical global cybersecurity realities:
1. The new normal of high threat volumes: The sheer scale of daily blocked threats( 190 billion globally) demonstrates that cybercrime is an industrial-scale operation. Organisations can no longer afford to view cybersecurity as an afterthought; it must be ingrained into every aspect of digital operations.
2. Adaptive adversaries: The constant shift in attack vectors and targets, as seen in the varied top verticals and defence mechanisms, highlights the adaptive nature of cybercriminals. Security solutions must be equally dynamic and proactive.
3. The persistent importance of foundational security: While advanced threats garner headlines, the continued prominence of HTTP anomalies, XSS, and SQLi in WAF rules reminds
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