According to an examination of Malta’s security preparation, small companies and professional service providers like law and finance firms are most susceptible to cyberattacks.  ,
At a company meal hosted by Times of Malta on Wednesday morning, UK-based consulting firm Thomas Murray presented the research of 300 Malta-based organizations.
Malta’s economic services, gaming, and cryptocurrency companies are prime targets for cyber criminals, according to Thomas Murray‘s producer Edward Starkie. The nation’s supply chains are even more vulnerable to attacks because of its great connectedness and dependent on foreign trade.  ,
The public sector and the state administration were the targets of a third of the recent cyberattacks against Malta. While the financial sector was hit with 16 %, the gaming industry was hit with 26 %.  ,
Malta is also in the sights of state-sponsored hacktivist teams because of its strategic location as an International member. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, these organizations ‘ tactics have grown.  ,
Data breaches resulting from phishing attempts and ransomware are the most common form of attacks, with distributed denial-of-service ( DDos ) attacks, which aim to overwhelm a target’s infrastructure with a flood of internet traffic, coming in second and third, respectively.  ,
Organizations are more vulnerable to cyberattacks due to outdated services that require updating, compromised machines, and stolen qualifications.  ,
Organizations with bases in Malta have a safety rating below average.
Starkie noted that Malta-based organizations that were subject to Thomas Murray’s safety study performed significantly below the world average on average. The lowest ratings were evenly distributed among those in the financial services, games, professional services, the public sector, and business.  ,
The majority of Malta’s company landscape is made up of small and medium businesses, which typically received the lowest scores.
Starkie speculated that fiscal considerations might be a component even though the reasons for this were unclear.  ,
According to a 2023 Microsoft report that found that 70 % of malware threats targeted SMEs, Matthew Agius, CEO of anti-money fraud and compliance business Diligex, echoed the results of the study.  ,
He noted that while addressing these dangers, danger was essential to running a business, so it was necessary to strike a balance between being cautious and being frightened.  ,
” We don’t exist in a world where companies don’t take any risks,” he said. We must evaluate, safeguard, and work together. We need to share information about threats, he said, not just about my business than yours.  ,
$ 30 million to improve the security of the state
CEO of MITA, Emanuel Darmanin, described the situation as a cautionary tale of a colleague who received what appeared to be an real email from a reliable source with a request to release banking details.  ,
This could have caused a significant loss had he not discovered a little gap. This demonstrates that anyone can fall prey to these problems, he said, underscoring that Malta was not too tiny to be a goal.  ,
He noted that MITA had invested $ 30 million to improve the security of the state with tools such as encryption, two-factor authentication and artificial intelligence. It had also assisted in the launch of the first master’s degree in cybersecurity at the University of Malta.
“Cyber protection involves characteristics that can only be properly shared through available dialogue, trust, and the exchange of experiences. He argued that responsible use of technology, consciousness, and vigilance had been ingrained into our culture.  ,
We presume that we are too smart to tumble for hacking.
According to Lorleen Farrugia, an expert on child net security, most children were concerned about getting hacked or infected with a virus when she asked them what was the most harmful thing that could happen to them. This demonstrated that even at a young age, they were already considering cybersecurity.  ,
” However, many of the children were criticizing the behavior of their contemporaries, such as making friends with strangers, rather than their own.”
This demonstrates that many of us think we are less vulnerable than another. She said that we assume our passwords are to secure because we believe we are too smart to trust phishing.  ,
She noted that a digital strike can have worse consequences than a real break-in, since there is a cap on the amount of money that can be stolen, but there are no such cap when it comes to the first.  ,
Our perspective serves as our most effective defense. How we think about how we analyze, question, and identify manipulation techniques before we fall for them is the second layer of protection. She said,” We have to acknowledge that we are never invincible.
The Business Picture, Diligex, MITA, the Cybersecurity National Coordination Centre, and Thomas Murray participated in the event.  ,