UAE Cybersecurity Council reviews its efforts within IGCF 2023

This came during the “Cybersecurity” Forum, organised by the UAE Cybersecurity Council, as part of IGCF activities, and included a series of discussion sessions and awareness lectures during which a number of experts and specialists in artificial intelligence and cybersecurity spoke, addressing the challenges facing the world’s governments as a result of practices that conflict with the societal values and threaten the national and regional security of countries in the region and the world.

His Excellency Dr. Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, Chairman of the UAE Cybersecurity Council, stressed the importance of building an advanced and effective digital system to secure countries and include electronic resilience in the national security strategy, especially in light of the electronic challenges and new artificial intelligence technologies that are exploited by Internet hackers.

Al Kuwaiti said that the UAE ranks fifth in the world, in the field of cybersecurity, pointing out that most countries in the world are exposed to cyber attacks, the most recent of which were “ransomware attacks” and “loss of service” attacks, which affected most of the countries’ vital sectors. 

Al Kuwaiti classified cyberattacks into 3 sectors: (cybercrime, cyberterrorism, and cyberwars), stressing the importance of digital transformation and integrating technologies into all aspects of business, including operations, products and services. 

Al Kuwaiti explained that protection mechanisms include training, awareness, monitoring, encryption and data access control processes, making backup copies, and continuous updating.

Al Kuwaiti pointed out the importance of cloud transformation and building the national cloud, as it provides security features that help companies comply with national cybersecurity regulations and standards, in addition to providing a set of other features such as access management, encryption, monitoring, response, and backups. 

His Excellency Dr. Saeed Al Dhaheri, Director of the Centre for Future Studies at the University of Dubai, warned during a session entitled “Cyber Threats Supported by Artificial Intelligence”, against hackers using artificial intelligence techniques to attack countries, companies and individuals, pointing out the importance of securing the future in light of the presence of “artificial intelligence

Dr. Al Dhaheri reviewed the stages of development of the artificial intelligence (ChatGPT), and said that it is expected that new, more advanced versions of the programme will be reached, it will carry emotional human creative qualities that interact with the user, and that they can even manipulate the human mind and can carry out any task entrusted to them, and here lies the danger. 

During the lecture on “Tolerance in the Digital World,” Mr. Saif Mukhair, a training and development consultant, noted that the UAE Cybersecurity Council is like an “immune system” so it must remain at its best, and therefore the whole world is joining forces to develop technical equipment and prepare the infrastructure to confront cyber risks. 

Saif Mukhair pointed out the existence of "cyber extremism" represented by the use of modern technologies to spread extremist and destructive ideas. 

Saif Mukhair added that "cyber extremism" is a serious threat to societies, as it spreads hatred and violence. Extremists can use technologies to communicate and exchange ideas to attract individuals and urge them to join criminal entities. He explained that their first targets are government institutions and infrastructure companies, and that malicious programmes, phishing operations, and social engineering are considered their most prominent tools in terrorist attacks.

Saif Mukhair explained that ($4.24 million) is the average cost of data breaches resulting from cyber terrorism, and that the expected increase in these attacks will be 20% by the end of this year. 85% of organizations around the world were subjected to such attacks during the past year.

Saif Mukhair stressed that tolerance in the digital world faces challenges, most notably the spread of hate speech, easy access to misleading information, difficulty in identifying criminals, insufficient familiarity with cybercrime laws, ease of exposure to harassment on the Internet, and lack of awareness of the importance of tolerance.

Mr. Ali Awadallah, Programme Manager, reviewed the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and its importance in increasing productivity, reducing costs, consolidating the principles of innovation, and improving the quality of life. 

Mr. Ali Awadallah pointed out that the most prominent technologies of this revolution are artificial intelligence, cloud computing, digital currencies, blockchain, the Internet of Things, smart cities, the metaverse, and robotics.

Awadallah explained that the Fourth Industrial Revolution faces several challenges, the most prominent of which is cybersecurity, as attacks on companies and countries can stop and disrupt systems and networks and steal sensitive data. It threatens national security, can disrupt the national economy by destroying infrastructure such as transportation and energy, and can destabilise societies by spreading rumors and lies.

Mr. Saif Mukhair confirmed that the concept of the digital footprint is the behaviour that can be tracked in the digital world, including the published content.

He explained that the digital fingerprint consists of creating an email, an account on social networks, browsing websites, shopping, registering in applications, and other activities on the Internet.

Saif Mukhair stressed the importance of controlling the digital fingerprint, as modern technologies can share information with wide segments of society and follow up on all individuals’ activities. 

Saif Mukhair stressed the importance of "digital citizenship", which is a set of guidelines that help one have a spirit of responsibility, awareness and wisdom when using technology, and aims to establish a safe and positive digital society characterised by tolerance, coexistence and noble human values.