Middle East Cyber Battle Field Broadens — Especially in UAE

The report describes a large uptick in cyber activity across Gulf states following the 2026 Middle East conflict, with daily breach attempts in the UAE rising from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands. Attackers — including hacktivists, opportunistic criminals, and Iran-aligned actors — have shifted toward intrusions targeting critical business sectors (finance, telecoms, aviation, law enforcement, energy-adjacent systems), leveraging wiper malware, compromised IoT cameras for intelligence, and AI to scale phishing and probing; defenders have improved detection, raising observed volumes even where destructive impacts remain limited.