UAE browsers safer than most when spinning around the Web

The most common Web threats in the UAE are Trojan viruses. Randi Sokoloff / The National

The UAE is one of the safest countries in the region for internet browsing, according to a report from the Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab.

Last month, the Emirates ranked 71 in the world for infections coming through the Web, with about 17 per cent of all internet users regularly facing malicious software through browsing and surfing online. The average global infection rate is about 28 per cent.

Infections through removable devices such as USB sticks is about 19 per cent, ranking the UAE at 65th place.

"The UAE is in a better position than other countries and the number of attacks are slowly going down if we compare them to previous quarters. It looks safe enough here in the UAE," said Vladimir Zapolyansky, the deputy director and head of technology positioning at Kaspersky.

The most common Web threats in the UAE are Trojan viruses, accounting for almost 61 per cent of threats. Trojans disguise themselves as legitimate computer files or software, and are designed to grant hackers access to the data stored on the computer.

The results are somewhat surprising given that the Middle East is the world's most targeted region for cyber attacks. In recent years, sophisticated attacks targeting government institutions and specific businesses have become prevalent.

"We did not find anything related to targeted attacks in the Emirates [last month], unlike Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, where it is very dangerous," said Mr Zapolyansky.

Most recently the Flame virus that targeted specific individuals in the Middle East carried three extra pieces of malware. Only one has been identified, dubbed the mini- Flame. Security specialists are still analysing the other two pieces.

"They were discovered in August, but we still don't know what they are. They could be targeting this region or elsewhere," said Mr Zapolyansky. "It depends on the motivation of the attackers because if they have the motivation, they can attack any country or computer. It depends on their imagination."