Cyber Security Attacks and Challenges in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19

Abstract

The outbreak of COVID-19 had affected almost every part of the world and caused disastrous results, the number of reported COVID-19 cases in past few months have reached to more than 29 million patients in the world globally. This pandemic has adversely affected all the activities of life, ranging from personal life to overall economic development. Due to the current situation, routinely turned to online resources, and people have relied on technology more than they have been before. Since cybercriminals are an opportunist and they utilized this entirely, by targeting the online services for all sectors of life. This fortnight online dependency of the community over the internet opened several easy doors for cybercriminals. This causes exponential attacks over internet traffic during this epidemic situation. The current Covid-19 pandemic situation appeared at once, and no one was ready to prevail this. However, there is an urgent need to address the current problem in all means. KSA is among one of the countries most affected by these CA and is a key victim for most cyber-crimes. Therefore, this paper will review the effects of COVID-19 on the cyber-world of KSA in various sectors. We will also shed light on the Saudi efforts to confront these attacks during COVID -19. As a contribution, we have provided a comprehensive framework for mitigating cybersecurity challenges.