A total of 561 cyberattacks against government, semi-government and private sector entities in the UAE were foiled by the Telecommunications Regulations Authority during the first half of the year, according to TRA statistics.

The attacks stymied during the first six months of the year account for 53 percent of the total offensive maneuvers foiled throughout 2016, which reflects the growing threat state and non-state websites are coming under.

According to TRA figures, government and non-government websites were the most targeted, and came under 284 attacks during H1, claiming 50.6 percent of the total malicious cyber-attempts during the monitored period. Private sector e-portals came under 277 offenses since January through the end of June.

In the meantime, TRA has been launching awareness campaigns, including lectures, seminars and workshops, over the past period to promote cyber safety and best practices in this field, calling upon all departments to have backup data bases independent of the Internet.