The highest cyber official within the United Arab Emirates (UAE) worries that digital personal networks (VPNs) are being misused within the nation.
“Now we have no drawback with folks utilizing VPNs, however utilizing it for unhealthy issues is the issue,” Muhammad Al Kuwaiti, head of cybersecurity at UAE Authorities, not too long ago instructed native reporters.
UAE residents elevated their downloads of VPN apps by 1.83 million in 2023, reaching a complete of 6.1 million, in line with the World VPN Adoption Index by Atlas VPN.
This pushed the UAE VPN adoption charge to 61.7% final yr, the second highest on the earth after Qatar’s 69.87%.
Strict Laws and Censorship
VPN utilization within the UAE is excessive as a result of the nation set strict rules on Web content material, together with the censorship of designated web sites and on-line companies, says Ezzeldin Hussein, regional director, gross sales engineering, Center East, Turkey and Africa (META), SentinelOne.
“VPNs permit customers to bypass these restrictions and entry content material which may be blocked or unavailable within the nation, similar to VoIP companies,” Hussein explains.
He added that the UAE is a worldwide commerce hub, so visiting enterprise vacationers usually use VPNs to entry company networks, talk securely overseas, and overcome geo-restrictions on companies and content material.
People within the UAE additionally flip to VPNs to encrypt their Web site visitors and shield their private data from surveillance, hacking, and information breaches, he notes.
VPNs for WhatsApp, FaceTime Entry
Nord Safety says the utilization of VPN is rising within the UAE and wider Gulf as residents use it make audio-video calls via apps similar to WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime, and courting apps.
Nonetheless, the Telecommunications and Digital Authorities Regulatory Authority (TDRA) pointers clearly forbids the usage of VPNs for unlawful means, together with hiding an IP tackle to achieve entry to forbidden communications websites, similar to WhatsApp — which is seen to be a rival to the federal government’s incumbent VoIP companies.
Below the decree legislation to fight false rumors (or pretend information) and cybercrimes, UAE residents who violate the legislation and misuse VPNs may face imprisonment and fines between Dh500,000 to Dh2 million.
Gopan Sivasankaran, normal supervisor at Secureworks for Center East, Turkey, and Africa, says the UAE is residence to a big proportion of expat staff who could also be tempted to make use of VPNs to entry media content material from their residence nation, or name worldwide family and friends.
Except for the authorized dangers, Sivasankaran warns of shopper complacency surrounding VPN’s distinctive cybersecurity dangers.
“In the identical means that the cloud is usually dismissed as ‘someone else’s laptop,’ third-party VPN companies are ‘someone else’s community.’ They are going to shield your native site visitors on a lodge or public WiFi community however that safety ends on the VPN service supplier’s server,” he says. Rogue suppliers may doubtlessly monetize, monitor, or intrude with VPN site visitors, he provides.
“The shopper takes it on belief that nothing nefarious is completed with their communications.”
Cybercrime Investigation Challenges
From a nationwide cybersecurity perspective, widespread VPN utilization poses challenges for legislation enforcement and intelligence companies tasked with monitoring cybercrime and nationwide safety threats, cautions SentinelOne’s Hussein.
“The anonymity afforded by VPNs could make it troublesome to hint the origin of malicious actions or determine people concerned in cyberattacks or different illicit actions carried out on-line,” he says.
“In the end, governments will face coverage and regulatory challenges in balancing the necessity to shield cybersecurity with respecting particular person privateness rights and freedom,” Hussein provides. “You will need to educate most of the people concerning the accountable use of VPNs and the potential dangers of VPN misuse.”
