When we hear about Cyber threats and attacks happening, we often think about where the breach has actually occurred at. Most often, we think of the United States, Europe being impacted, and the culprit being from China, North Korea, or Russia. But there is one part of the world which we often don’t think about, and that is the Middle East. I have seen Saudi Arabia come out in the news a little bit more often, but there is one particular region that made headlines today.
That is Dubai, home of the previous World Cup. This city (which is quite a beautiful one
also), has actually seen its fair share of Cyber-attacks. According to IBMs report, entitled: “The Cost Of A Data Breach Study” claims that
Dubai has lost well over $32 Million because of security breaches from
20180-2022. This is illustrated in the diagram
below:
(SOURCE: https://www.darkreading.com/dr-global/overview-dubais-first-and-second-cybersecurity-strategy)
The IBM Report can actually be downloaded at this link:
http://cyberresources.solutions/blogs/IBM_Report.pdf
One of the primary reasons cited why Dubai is starting to
become a target in the crosshairs of the Cyberattacker is that it is leading
the way in digital innovation in that part of the Gulf region. In fact, it can be considered to be one of
the most modern “Smart Cities” in the world.
At the heart of this is of course both the IIoT and the IoT.
In fact, Dubai started its full force venture into
Cybersecurity, when it launched what it known as the “Dubai Electronic Security
Centre”, or “DESC” for short. From here, this
then became the launching pad for Dubai to launch its first Cybersecurity
strategy, which involved the entire city, not just businesses or individuals. More details on that can be seen at this link
here:
http://cyberresources.solutions/blogs/Dubai_Strategy.pdf
Just recently, the Crown Prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin
Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched the next part of their Cybersecurity
strategy on July 12th, 2023.
The first part of it can be seen in the above-mentioned report. Here are the major components of this new
phase:
1)
Creating a Cybersecurity Culture:
The goal is to give every citizen and
business of Dubai access to any and all access to Cyber resources as they are
needed. It is hoped that this will lead
to a proactive Cybersecurity society.
2)
Being the Incubator For Innovation:
The intent here is to expand upon
the security center as just described, and update with the latest technologies
so that Cybersecurity professionals can use the latest tools in figuring out
ways to combat the latest threats.
3)
A Strong Cyber City:
Here, it is intended that Dubai will
further enhance its reputation as being one of the safest Smart Cities in the world.
4)
A Place For Information Sharing:
Of the chief objectives of the
Sheik of Dubai is to allow for the free flow of information and data between the
government, businesses, and the people (and even vice versa). The intent here is that by sharing these
kinds of assets, Dubai will become much more proactive in fending off any kinds
of Cyber threats and attack vectors.
Also, people will be highly encouraged to report any suspicious
behavior, on an anonymous basis.
My Thoughts On This:
The city of Dubai has taken other steps as well to be the Gulf’s
center for Cybersecurity. For example:
*It is now sponsoring the various “Hack The Box”
competitions, making a return after an 8-year halt.
*It is hosting other Cyber-related events as well, bringing
in people from all over the world.
*The Sheik of Dubai just launched what is known as the “Dubai
Cyber Index” to reflect the city’s level of resilience and readiness in the
case of a large-scale attack. More information
about this can be seen at the link below:
In my opinion, I think it is great how the City of Dubai is
coming together to bring its people, businesses, and even culture into a proactive
mindset. It is truly amazing what people
can do when they all come together for a common cause. Here in the United States, we can learn so
much from this.
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