PwC Fraud Forum focuses on threat of cybercrime

The latest PwC Fraud Forum held in Doha this week brought together fraud experts and executives from across the Qatar business community to discuss cybercrime and its threat to local and international economic development. In addition to outlining the threat of cybercrime, the latest solutions to addressing this topical issue were also outlined.

James Tebbs, Leader of PwC Qatar’s Forensic Services Team, hosted the event which took a practical approach to addressing Cybercrime. Real life, potential business scenarios such as “I’ve been breached, now what do I do?”, were introduced to help illustrate the issue. Tebbs commented “The ‘Cyber Threat’ is in no way diminishing, as a matter of fact it’s continuously growing. Sophisticated and targeted cyber-attacks on businesses are a real danger. It is no longer a case of focusing on protecting the perimeter IT infrastructure only, most attacks these days can easily bypass the perimeter defences and can create havoc in a company’s internal infrastructure.”

According to PwC’s latest Middle East Economic Crime Survey, Cybercrime was the second most commonly reported cause of fraud, accounting for 37% of reported cases. Mohamad AlBustami from PwC’s Cyber Detection & Response practice in the Middle East said: “Businesses can take a pro-active, rather than reactive approach to incidents and breaches and look to create more defences, leveraging Cyber threat intelligence capabilities. Today’s forum was a key opportunity to discuss the threats and the solutions.”

The PwC Fraud Forum is a platform through which attendees can share knowledge and participate in research to help prevent, detect and investigate fraud and economic crime in all its forms. Participants receive technical updates on fraud prevention and detection issues as well as having the opportunity to meet periodically with other PwC Fraud Forum members to exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences. Attendees at the event included C-suite executives, compliance professionals, key individuals from Qatar’s leading organisations and further specialists from PwC’s Cyber Detection & Response practice. 

The next PwC Fraud Forum will be held in September.