As the business and industrial sun sets in the West, the East is sure the place of its rising, hence a flurry of trade, industrial and technological activities there are pointers to this erstwhile shy lady’s gradual opening up of her doors to trade, industrial and technological ‘suitors’ from all parts of the globe coming to woo her. While this rush to woo Dubai the Beautiful Bride of the Middles East is good news, the current menace of cyber crimes is no doubt amongst her major headaches and pose great threats to Governments and businesses in the Gulf States, hence it is not hard to notice these days that Online security threats in the Middle East are increasingly becoming recognised as real concerns for businesses and Governments.
No wonder public and political dialogues have moved Online and are now accessible to almost anyone who knows where to look for them. Cyber experts have said several factors are to be taken into consideration when trying to understand why Cyber Security in the Middle East is such a fast growing area of concern.
For example, a recent article published by the FT (Financial Times) commented on the social and cultural ramifications of political dialogue moving online; where it is increasingly available. The article also highlighted that tensions existing in the physical world are now being fought on new and barely understood digital playing fields.
As online possibilities continue to grow exponentially; so does the need for up-to-date security. The business environment of today and of the future is going to be Online. We are able to bank, shop, share, download and monitor global news 24hours a day.
Mr Jim Nelms Chief of Information Security for The World Bank and confirmed speaker at The Cyber Security Summit UAE 2012 said: “Protection of data and digital assets is critical; however protection is becoming more difficult with the proliferation of new technologies such as mobile devices, cloud computing, complex multi-tiered architectures and new complex threats such as Advanced Persistent Threats (APT).”
Our ability to access information has never been this interactive. With this constant free flow of information there have also been several high profile cyber-attacks. In the Middle East alone the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates has been successfully attacked, the e-mail account of Basher al-Assad the Syrian Prime Minister. Also consider the Stuxnet virus which was designed to compromise Iranian Nuclear Plants, blame was directed at the USA and Israel with no denial from with either party.
The reality is Cyber Security is affecting almost all industries on many different levels. Aside from the direct international and political threat of Cyber warfare, experts have observed that the Middle East is experiencing unprecedented attacks on its financial institutions and they have attributed these to the overwhelming wealth of the Gulf States, a situation which further underlines the reality of the threats coming from a vast spectrum of interests and intent, hence unpredictable and undetectable.
The Cyber Security UAE Summit is an innovation of Oliver Kinross Ltd. On the 9th & 10th of October 2012, professionals from all industries will come together in Dubai to discuss the very latest in Global Cyber Security and how to best protect organisations in the future. This conference is the first of its kind to cover Cyber Security issues across Financial Institutions, National Security, Transport systems, Critical Infrastructure & Telecommunications.
This event comes at the perfect time for the UAE and Middle East as companies look to update their systems with the latest safeguards against such threats, but also because the issue of Cyber security requires far more analysis.
Speakers include the Head of Information Security at Dubai Bank (Taimur Ijlal), Lead Security and System Engineer from the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (Mahmoud Yassin) and Director of the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (Tariq Al Hawi). The Summit will consist of a two-day conference and exhibition and will feature 30 top-level presentations from across the industries. This is a not to be missed high level event in the Arab and worldwide Cyber Security annual calendar.