UAE shores up cyber defenses to thwart hackers

The UAE is working hard to build a safe digital economy with highly secure and robust cloud infrastructure, Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, the UAE government’s head of cyber security, said.

In an exclusive interview with The National, Dr Al Kuwaiti said the UAE’s key to success is collaboration with several countries to shore up its digital ecosystem and information technology infrastructure.

“We have state-of-the-art advanced cloud ecosystems that allow all businesses at different scales and government enterprises to seamlessly conduct their business here from the UAE,” said Mr Al Kuwaiti on Monday.

He was speaking on the sidelines of Intersec, a global emergency services, security and safety event that is taking place at the Dubai World Trade Centre. The event started on January 16 and will end on January 18.

“The UAE, like other nations, is going through digital transformations, which increase the dependency on technologies, and there are more and more, which opens a larger threat landscape.

“We are applying the latest cyber security technology and support big or small businesses with top-class experts from the private sector to help them if they are targeted by cyber criminals.”

Mr Al Kuwaiti said Intersec was a great way to explore the latest technology and innovative solutions to complex digital problems and network with cyber security experts from around the world.

“We are providing investors from around the world [with] multiple platforms such as this conference, which helps us to co-operate and work with others to enhance our cyber security, which is not one country’s problem. One key reason why cyber crime and ransomware attacks, in particular, are rising is that most people just view it as someone else’s problem.”