Fatima Muhammad Saudi Gazette JEDDAH – The access to emails and websites through smartphones increases the risk of hacking as smartphones have applications that are updated regularly without providing enough high security measures. “Each day we see a new application and program for smartphones, but we do not see protection systems that are as advanced as the applications,” said Hani Mukhtar, a Saudi specialist at the information technology department at Saudi Aramco. He also said that detecting hackers now is more challenging because hacking through smartphones makes it difficult to pinpoint the location of hackers. Mukhtar called on companies to keep a back-up of all data. “Companies, ministries and banks should protect their virtual world just like protecting individuals and homes. We have to invest more in protection programs,” he said. Talaat Hafez, Secretary-General of the Media and Banking Awareness Committee of Saudi Banks, said that banks in the Kingdom have high cyber security measures. They spend a good sum of their budgets on cyber security measures, he said, adding that banks issue smart cards to its clients which are hard to hack.
