Leapfrogs Europe; Private Sector Faces Urgent Business Case to Match Federal Standards
The UAE government has leapfrogged European countries in cybersecurity preparedness, protecting the country’s critical national infrastructure in the face of growing cyber threats, industry experts have revealed.
“The UAEs’ impressive ranking demonstrates the effectiveness of the National Electronic Security Authority’s cybersecurity outreach, and that the UAE government is one of the most innovative countries in the world in prioritizing cybersecurity,” said Savitha Bhaskar, COO of Condo Protego.
Confronting an increasing number of increasingly complex cybersecurity attacks, in 2014, the UAE National Electronic Security Authority (NESA) announced the National Cyber Security Program, which requires government agencies to report on their cybersecurity infrastructure, as part of creating a secure national digital environment.
As part of the program, NESA can also audit government agencies’ cybersecurity systems, commission cyber-security tests, and intervene to strengthen systems.
Now, the UAE’s private sector organizations must catch up to federal standards, argued Condo Protego. The European Union, for example, recently required Internet service providers, online retailers, and search engines to declare cybersecurity breaches.
“There’s a strong business case to be made that UAE private sector organizations cannot wait until they have been breached to deploy cybersecurity solutions. Rather, they face an urgency to follow government guidelines, similar to how UAE banks follow international banking guidelines,” added Bhaskar.
