Help AG Report Reveals 857% Surge in DDoS Attacks, Redefining Cybersecurity Priorities in the GCC

The cybersecurity landscape in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has undergone a significant transformation, as highlighted in Help AG’s recently released State of the Market Report 2026. This sixth edition of the annual report provides a comprehensive analysis of cybersecurity trends across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, revealing a dramatic shift in how organizations must approach cyber resilience.

A New Operational Reality

The report draws on intelligence from Help AG’s Security Operations Centres in Dubai and Riyadh, along with insights from cybersecurity specialists, technology partners, and clients throughout the GCC. A key finding indicates that cybersecurity in the region has entered a new operational reality characterized by the integration of artificial intelligence, the prioritization of sovereign cloud infrastructure, and the emergence of machine-speed attacks. These developments are compressing traditional response windows and challenging legacy security models.

Sovereign cloud infrastructure is increasingly recognized as a vital component of operational resilience strategies across the region. Organizations are reassessing their cybersecurity frameworks, infrastructure control, and continuity planning in response to evolving geopolitical and cyber risks.

Surge in Cyber Threats

Help AG’s data reveals a sustained and alarming rise in cyberattack activity and complexity over the past six years. Between 2019 and 2025, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks surged by 857%, with over 371,000 incidents recorded in 2025 alone. The nature of these attacks is evolving; the longest DDoS attack observed lasted more than 85 consecutive days, indicating a shift from short-term disruptions to sustained operational pressure.

Furthermore, the speed of attack execution has accelerated sharply. In the first quarter of 2026, Help AG noted a 65% increase in attack completion speed, with several significant breaches impacting operations in under 40 hours. This trend is exacerbated during periods of geopolitical tension, as evidenced by the UAE Cybersecurity Council’s report of daily cyberattack attempts rising from approximately 200,000 to between 500,000 and 700,000 during heightened regional developments in early 2026.

These trends signify a fundamental shift in the cyber risk landscape, where threats are no longer episodic but continuous, adaptive, and closely linked to geopolitical and technological changes.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is emerging as a pivotal force in the cybersecurity domain, reshaping both offensive and defensive strategies. On the attack front, AI enables adversaries to automate reconnaissance, scale phishing campaigns, accelerate exploitation chains, and refine credential-based attacks with unprecedented speed and accuracy.

Conversely, organizations are increasingly leveraging AI throughout the security lifecycle. This includes alert prioritization, automated investigations, adaptive detection, and predictive response. Help AG’s Security Operations Centres now operate over 145 automated security scenarios, achieving a reduction in response times by more than 50%, with zero-day protections operationalized within approximately 45 minutes of identification.

The report also highlights the concept of “defensive learning,” which involves the continuous transformation of incident intelligence into enhanced security performance. This capability is becoming essential for modern Security Operations Centre (SOC) maturity and is a critical response to ongoing cybersecurity talent shortages.

As AI adoption accelerates, governance frameworks are evolving as well. The report emphasizes a shift from static policy frameworks to continuous operational oversight, addressing risks such as shadow AI and ensuring real-time visibility in dynamic environments.

Cyber Sovereignty as a Design Principle

Cyber sovereignty is emerging as a crucial factor influencing the design and operation of digital infrastructure across the GCC. Once primarily viewed through the lens of compliance and data residency, sovereignty is now integrated into broader operational resilience strategies. It impacts cloud architecture, security operations design, AI governance models, and infrastructure ownership decisions.

The report identifies a growing trend towards sovereign cloud and locally governed infrastructure models in both the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Cybersecurity is increasingly embedded in national resilience planning and long-term digital infrastructure strategies. This evolution necessitates a balance between regulatory alignment, operational continuity, resilience requirements, and infrastructure visibility across complex hybrid and sovereign cloud environments.

As the UAE advances its digital government agenda, artificial intelligence and sovereign digital infrastructure are becoming central to the delivery, security, and trustworthiness of public services. This shift is redefining cybersecurity as a continuous operational layer that underpins critical infrastructure, citizen data protection, and public-sector resilience at scale.

Abdulla Ebrahim Al Ahmed, Chief Government & VVIP Relations Officer at e& UAE, emphasized the importance of trust, resilience, and national capability in the UAE’s digital ambitions. He stated that as AI becomes more integrated into government services and sovereign digital ecosystems expand, cybersecurity must operate at the same speed and scale. Organizations require security measures that are continuously adaptive, locally aligned, and designed to protect critical infrastructure and citizen data in an AI-driven environment.

Post-Quantum Security in Strategic Planning

In addition to immediate operational threats, the report highlights post-quantum security as an emerging long-term infrastructure priority. As quantum computing technology advances, existing cryptographic standards that underpin identity systems, financial infrastructure, cloud environments, and secure communications may face significant disruption.

Organizations building sovereign digital ecosystems that are intended to operate over multi-decade horizons must now consider post-quantum readiness as a critical aspect of their planning. This transition is positioned as a foundational element of future digital trust infrastructure across the region.

Key Structural Shifts in Cybersecurity Strategy

Help AG identifies five key shifts that are shaping cybersecurity strategy across the GCC in 2026 and beyond:

• Transitioning from fragmented security tools to integrated resilience architectures.
• Moving from reactive defense to continuously adaptive, AI-driven operations.
• Shifting from compliance-led programs to measurable operational resilience.
• Evolving from talent-centric models to automation and institutional learning.
• Advancing from isolated national frameworks to coordinated GCC-wide resilience alignment.

These shifts collectively define a broader transition towards what Help AG describes as Sustainable Cybersecurity—an always-on, adaptive security model designed to function under continuous pressure, at machine speed, and in alignment with national resilience priorities.

Dr. Aleksandar Valjarevic, Acting Chief Executive Officer of Help AG, noted that AI and sovereignty are already reshaping how digital infrastructure is designed, secured, and governed across the GCC. The findings of this year’s report indicate that cybersecurity must now operate continuously, at machine speed, and in direct alignment with national resilience priorities. Organizations are shifting focus from merely adding more tools to building adaptive, measurable, and locally aligned security capabilities that can withstand sustained pressure.

Source: www.intelligentciso.com

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