It’s time to act

Manama : Politically or ideologically motivated crimes are on the rise in the cyber world with the Information & eGovernment Authority alerting the Computer Energy Response Team (CERT) regarding serious security issues more than 50 times during 2017, said a top iGA official. 

“The nature of the cyber-crimes today has changed,” warned Mohamed Ali AlQaed, by (iGA) Chief Executive, adding: “It is now used for political, racial, religious or other motives.”

He was talking during a special Panel Discussion entitled ‘Cybersecurity  Innovation and the  Middle  East’ during the IISS Manama Dialogue: 13th Regional Security Summit. 

Ministers and senior officials from the Gulf and the rest of the World attended the event hosted by Bahrain from 8th-10th December.

This change, according to Al Qaed, demonstrates the “seriousness of cybersecurity risks, latest developments of attacks risks relevant to cybersecurity along with the methods of detecting them and protection”.

The risks, however, has also resulted in developing the (Cyber Hawks) initiative, which contributed in increasing the collaboration amongst various public entities to detect and address possible penetration attempts as well as contain them as fast as possible, Al Qaed told the participants.  

Rapid developments in technology were cited as one of the reasons. “Such widespread has accompanied an increase in the risks of several penetrations and cyber-attacks that reach the most vital sectors and targets infrastructures. Thus, they have become a concern for public and private entities as well as individuals.”

The Chief Executive further commented that in light of this technological advancement, the Authority seeks – in collaboration with all the entities in the Kingdom – to address these cyber-attacks and threats. It will also cooperate with the Anti-Economic Crimes Directorate at the Interior Ministry’s General Directorate of Anti-Corruption & Economic & Electronic Security in order to detect cyber-crimes, in line with the concern and follow-up of the Interior Minister H.E. Lt. General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla AlKhalifa. 

AlQaed also highlighted the importance of the human element in terms of sharpening its skills and gaining new experiences as iGA initiated a series of security awareness programmes and specialized training courses all-year-long for public sector employees. Through the Thiqa (Cyber Trust) programme and across its three levels (Practitioner, Progressive and Excellent); the Authority also evaluates and measures employees’ efficiencies and readiness in facing and addressing cybersecurity risks.