14 DAY TRIAL // As many other countries, Saudi Arabia has come to realize that it must take immediate action to protect government systems against hackers.
The government has started setting up a national authority for information security, called the National e-Security Center, whose main goal will be to protect important networks against cyberattacks, India Today informs.
The decision comes in light of numerous attacks launched by both cybercriminals and hacktivists. One of the targets of such an attack was the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry, whose website was disrupted for several hours back in May due to an attack that that was traced back to various countries.
The new center’s director says hackers have stolen data from government systems by planting malware that went undiscovered for months.
The center will be in charge of making sure that information security systems are reviewed and of ensuring that unlicensed software is not utilized.