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Senior officials of ITU, IMPACT, Naseba and Oman National CERT after addressing a media conference on the sidelines of Cyber Defence Summit here yesterday. Photo —SHABIN E./Times of Oman
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Muscat: The Oman National Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT) said it has been taking a series of initiatives to prevent cyber attacks on the country's private and public sector. The agency's initiatives include capacity-building, conducting workshops for financial sector and monitoring web portals.
"We come to know if there is a phishing website. Usually when there are cases like the recent one, we investigate and provide technical support, although they coordinate with law enforcement authorities," said Eng. Badar Ali Al Salehi, director of Oman National CERT.
He also noted that the agency provides consultancy services, besides guidelines for private sector to follow. "We have been issuing several cyber security policies and check-lists," he added.
The first Regional Cyber Defence Summit opened here yesterday under the auspices of Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Saidi, minister of health, and in the presence of key government officials, chief executives and global experts on information communication technology (ICT). This summit comes close on the heels of the launch of the first Regional Cyber Security Centre hosted by Oman's National Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT).
The summit, organised by Oman's CERT, on behalf of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), and in cooperation with ITU-IMPACT and Naseba, will continue through until March 5. In his welcome address, Dr Salim Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, chief executive of the Information Technology Authority (ITA), referred to the outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Tunis in 2005 and the Geneva Summit in 2003, and emphasised the importance of cyber security and confidence-building in the use of information technology.
It was through a series of actions developed at WSIS that began to encourage cooperation between governments and the private sector and all users of ICT, in order to determine the best way to protect data and network integrity, considering the current and potential dangers that threaten ICT.
The same was affirmed at the Connect Arab Summit in 2012, held in Qatar and attended by leaders and heads of Arab states and their representatives, where a number of recommendations in the field of cyber security emerged, focusing on the importance of creating national strategies for cyber security in Arab countries during the next five years.
Rise in Internet users
Dr Al Ruzaiqi later cited eye-opening regional statistics in the region in general and also the Arab region in the use of ICT, saying: "Statistics show that the population of the Arab countries has reached almost 352 million.
"The number of Internet users comprises 30 per cent of the population, where the percentage of users in the past decade has increased by 2,300 per cent, with the average use of the Internet up to two hours per day.
Forty-five per cent of the use of the Internet is through handheld devices and mobile phones, while the percentage of growth in the use of the Arabic language communications has increased exponentially 2,500 per cent in the past decade past. The percentage of use of mobile phones in the Arab countries is higher than the global average of 10 per cent since 2006 and reached 15 per cent in 2011."
Speaking about the compatibility of this development with initiatives pursued in the region in securing information technology communications and users, as well as insuring national infrastructures, Dr Al Ruzaiqi added: "If we look at the regional cyber attacks that targeted the institutions and infrastructure sectors of vital industries, we realise the challenges faced in the region. Necessary measures should be taken against these attacks to ensure the impact is minimised.
The major shift in the evolution of cyber attacks recorded in recent years requires an increased interest of all government agencies and national infrastructure institutions in each country to review their strategies for cyber security. Not filling in the gaps or finding steps for securing the use of ICTs, in order to avoid such attacks, could severely limit the ability of government and private institutions in the provision of basic services for citizens and in securing their data and personal information."
Ebrahim Al Hadad, director of the ITU Arab Regional Office, praised the development information technology and communications sector in the Sultanate and the attention allocated to cyber security in particular.
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