A Strive Toward Cyber Resilient Nations: A Cybersecurity Ecosystem
With the world’s accelerated industrial and technological revolution, countries are increasingly adopting intelligent digital solutions to fortify their frameworks, be it economic, sustainable, or even security. With the world’s interconnection, the fusion of development is amplifying, and with this upsurge, the global embrace of technological means has reached new pinnacles. Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Continuous Protection Server (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), and much more, are gradually being used to further fortify this connection. Cybersecurity has become an integral part of nations’ rise, as technology has a more substantial role to play in shaping the global future of nations and their cybersecurity ecosystem. The evolution of information systems in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
The UAE and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) have significantly escalated in the last decade. The mushrooming of technological adoption for the UAE and KSA will support the fulfillment of their visions of metamorphosing into a globally renowned smart nation, with the nation’s core powers emerging from knowledge-based technology instead of oil-based. Yet, with this increase, the certainty of cyber threats intensifying looms in the shadows behind closed doors.
A Persistent Cyber Nation
The combination of policies, best practices, security tools, and devices make cybersecurity indispensable in guaranteeing a nation’s secure ecosystem. The UAE’s cybersecurity strategy intrinsically depends on three main pillars, integrity, confidentiality, and availability.
The prosperity of UAE’s digital economy relies on cybersecurity and the elimination of any risk from exposing the nation to malware, organized cybercrimes, and cyber terrorism threats. In the past years, cyberattacks on the UAE’s infrastructure have subjected the Emirate’s governmental and private businesses to malicious attacks, ranging from ransomware, virus attacks, and crypto-jacking. The Emirate’s government, industries, and society have been significant players in driving the UAE toward its cyber-resilient goals through the fulfillment of its National Cyber Security Strategy (NCSS). The goal is to secure the nation’s national information and communication across all its networks. To accomplish such ideals, the UAE will have to dissect its focus on containing cyber threats, educate citizens on the risks of cyber threats, elevate the most robust research in cybersecurity, and reinforce international collaboration.
In 2017, Dubai introduced a new strategy to refine and effectuate best practices for city-wide information and cyber security. The Dubai Electronic Security Center’s (DESC) strategy development will govern mightier domains for intelligent cyber society, innovation, cyber security, cyber resilience, and collaboration. In its ideal form, the UAE’s cybersecurity ecosystem and framework will be molded around several cyber laws governing cybersecurity and data privacy to combat crimes and ensure the protection of electronic commerce and transactions.
Cybersecurity is essential to the success of UAE’s digital transformation wave to make the Emirate a leading proponent and key driver of its digital future. Today’s expeditious transformation from the traditional cybersecurity ecosystem to a wholly refurbished digital one demands a fierce, compelling, and bulletproof cybersecurity strategy. The UAE’s accelerated push to digitalize its private and public sectors’ infrastructure with the embrace of digital transformation, and without the right cybersecurity strategies, the wealth of information given by the accelerated embrace of digital transformation can be easily exposed. The UAE’s new technology strategies branching into all its sectors can be considered an advantage, but most importantly, it can also be considered a vulnerability. The Emirate is investing its time and effort into laying a suitable foundation for an indestructible cybersecurity groundwork before fulfilling its digital transformation goals.
As the Emirate globally girds its position in becoming a leading renowned tech hub, it is also becoming a bigger target for cyber-attacks by actors with political motivations. It is only fair to say that the UAE has successfully optimized its cyber-resilience stance amid rising cyber threats. The last two years brought an unprecedented proliferation in cybersecurity threats, and the UAE is determined to develop and take the right actions to ensure such protection. As severe as they may be, it is undeniably concrete that such measures, some might think drastic, are met with success. The derivative is a prosperous nation built on deliberate choices to develop a knowledge-based society inclusive of everyone’s needs, all while accommodating the world’s accelerated digital transformation wave.
Saudi’s Cybersecurity Ecosystem
On the global socioeconomic scene, the KSA has emerged as one of the most competitive economies of the twenty-first century. Innovation is one of the most important indicators of progress that has characterized Middle Eastern nations over the past few years.
When considering concerns like government operations, cybersecurity becomes a significant factor. In the areas of commerce, social welfare, health, security, defense, finance, and other affiliated industries, the Saudi Arabian government is spending more and more on technical advancements. As the government aspires to influence profitable results, protecting cyberspaces cannot be seen as a contemplation but rather as a requirement.
Saudi Arabia wants to ensure that at least two of its cities are listed among the top 100 smart cities in the world. Nonetheless, incorporating smart city technologies and growing connectivity still raises questions about cyber security, with phishing and denial of service attacks among the most serious dangers. Therefore, Saudi Arabia requires a cybersecurity policy framework that will promote efficient protection from these cyber menaces for all stakeholders in its smart cities. User adoption is the most crucial factor in any new technology, including intelligent metropolises. Saudi end-users are hesitant to adopt unique technology where online engagement is necessary because of persistent cyber threats and the lack of effective cyber regulations.
The delivery of essential services, as well as the outlook for Saudi Arabia’s technical future, have both been improved by new technologies. As the government works to compete advantageously for tourism in business, education, and tourism in hospitality, and medicine, it is necessary to defend these paradigms. The systematic development of an appropriate cybersecurity ecosystem is critical for solutions to Saudi Arabia’s e-government system’s dealing with cybersecurity issues. The heart of such a framework would consist of several cybersecurity tasks and desired results, whose applications and critical infrastructure sectors share references. To build a secure environment for government activities.
At any level, the Saudi government’s cyber security plan can be improved by systematically implementing it across several agencies. The five parallel and continuous aspects that comprise the core structure to ensure the Kingdom’s absolute cyber resilience are identification, protection, detection, response, and recovery of crucial data. The lifecycle of managing cybersecurity-related risks in the Saudi e-government can be given a high level and strategic focus by taking into account the functions of the suitable cybersecurity framework.
Inside Telecom provides you with an extensive list of content covering all aspects of the tech industry. Keep an eye on our Cybersecurity sections to stay informed and up-to-date with our daily articles.