Global financial advisory services firm Ernst and Young (EY) has opened a new cyber security operations centre in Oman in response to increased demand from companies to manage digital security, the company has announced.
Located in Muscat, the multi-million dollar facility is “the first of its kind in the region,” and brings to the region the company’s anomaly detection technology developed in partnership with the US Department of Energy’s Los Alamos National Laboratory.
“Oman is a strategic location for the GCC with GCC Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) responsibilities sitting with the Oman CERT,” said Clinton Firth, MENA Cybersecurity Leader, EY.
“We have seven traditional Security Operation Centres around the world, and this is our first investment with a Digital SOC, and one of the first in the world.”
The 24 hour facility will offer EY’s cybersecurity-monitoring services on a subscription-based model to clients located in the Middle East.
There is an increasing need for organizations to embrace a more sophisticated approach to cyber security if they are to remain protected, said Firth.
“Cyberattacks are no longer a matter of ‘if’, but ‘when’. Hackers are increasingly relentless. At the same time, rapid technology adoption is increasing an organisation’s vulnerability to attack through increased online presence, broader use of social media, mass adoption of mobile devices, increased usage of cloud services, and the collection and analysis of big data,” he added.
With its new facility, EY’s cyber analysts will capture security events by detecting and tracking intruders in a client’s network and monitor attacks throughout their lifespan, providing insights for countermeasures and remediation.