Banks, retail outlets and major government bodies in Bahrain are set to tighten up their online security following a spate of regional cybercrime attacks.

Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF) business development manager Anuradha Shaw said organisations should urgently tackle the growing problem of cybercrime, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

"There has been a lot of press coverage about cybercrime and cyber security, and we need to build more of an awareness about this problem in Bahrain," she said.

"The regulations we currently have in place have not caught up with developments in cyber space and that makes us totally vulnerable.

"We have seen a lot of interest in this area and organisations want to know how they can protect themselves from this kind of crime, which costs businesses trillions of dollars globally.

"We had a recent scare with $45 million stolen from bank accounts in Oman and the UAE. Although Bahrain is very well regulated, we mustn't be complacent as there is room for improvement and we have to understand the risks in cyber transactions.

"For example, if you are working in the retail business and someone hands you a credit card, no one even checks the signature on the card or the name on it.

"Because we have a multi-national society here in Bahrain, it is sometimes hard to tell if the name on the card is male or female.

"It could be a woman using a man's bank card, suggesting it has been stolen and this should be a red flag that fraud might be going on."

She was speaking during a two-day conference on cybercrime and security, which was organised by the BIBF.

The event took place at the Diplomat Radisson Blu Hotel, Residence and Spa, and included guest speaker and cybercrime expert Mark Johnson.

Meanwhile, a team of cybercrime experts from London are also visiting Bahrain this week to meet with representatives from the banking and insurance sectors to discuss current trends and threats.

"Our team provides services centralised around cyber investigations and cyber threat intelligence and is made up of global resources as well as local based talent, including GCC nationals," said Paul Walker from Ernst and Young's forensic technologies and discovery services (FTDS).

"The GCC region can benefit greatly from the lessons learned across the world in the cybercrime space." - TradeArabia News Service