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UAE blocks 200,000 cyberattacks in one week amid geopolitical issues: Top official

The country's cybersecurity chief explains how 'threats increase exponentially' whenever new technology is adopted — but the UAE has always succeeded in countering these attacks

Published: Thu 17 Oct 2024, 1:22 PM

Updated: Thu 17 Oct 2024, 9:41 PM

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There was a time when the UAE detected more than 200,000 cyberattacks in just one week — and none of them got to harm systems, a senior official said on Wednesday.

The attacks were recorded when geopolitical issues, among other related issues, were happening in the region, said Dr Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, chairman of the UAE Cybersecurity Council.

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"The UAE is a hub for the financial sector, too. That's why, sometimes, you see attacks focused on the financial sector … With the resilience, partnerships and collaborations we have, there were no successful attacks,” Al Kuwaiti said during a panel discussion titled the State Cybersecurity Outlook: Shaping the Future of AI Digital Economy, which was held on the third day of Gitex Global 2024 at Dubai World Trade Centre.

Senior officials and ministers from the US, Malaysia, Paraguay, the UK and Cyprus also spoke during the panel discussion on Wednesday.

The UAE has been recognised globally for its efforts against cybercrimes and attacks. In fact, it was rated among the highest-tier countries and role models for cybersecurity, according to the Global Security Index 2024 released in September.

“Cybercrimes, such as fraud and scams, are everywhere and the first line of defence is awareness,” Al Kuwaiti added.

Tackling threats while adopting new tech

Whenever new technology is adopted, the "threat landscape increases exponentially", said Al Kuwaiti.

"There are three main threats. One is cybercrime – like frauds, scams and impersonation. Second is cyberterrorism due to geopolitical aspects and it includes misinformation, disinformation, and changing the mindset of the public towards terrorism ideologies. We are countering it across all of the platforms," he said.

"Third is cyberwarfare. We saw around us many of those cyberattacks focusing on targeting critical infrastructure that our lives depend on such as electricity, oil and gas, aviation and even healthcare. They are targeting healthcare facilities without even paying attention to the people behind that and the victims who could suffer."

The UAE Cybersecurity Council chief said they’re working with partners to counter these threats, build a coalition, and strengthen a deterrence strategy.

Al Kuwaiti called for building a 'Cyber Geneva Convention' that could bolster governments' collective efforts against cyber threats.

“Cyber Geneva Convention is something that allows us to feel safe. All those small or medium – or even large businesses – want to feel the same when they connect online," he said.

New policies

The UAE is also updating its cybersecurity policy to keep up pace with the changes and advancements taking place in the fast-evolving industry.

“We always ensure that policies keep up with whatever new technologies are out there. In the UAE, the cybersecurity strategy is going to be updated that focuses on governing as well as defending and protecting (against attacks),” he said, adding that cyber laws around the Internet of Things (IoT) will also be updated. These will cover a wide range of devices, from the basic ones used in the healthcare industry to the sensors utilised in oil and gas facilities.

“For those Internet of Things, there is a set of security standards that needs to be adhered to. Then there is cloud-first policy that we already actually have released, and now we are enhancing it to adopt all security measures in this regard,” he said.

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