UAE Cybersecurity Council awarded Global Achievement Award by (ISC)2

The International Information System Security Certification Consortium, or (ISC)2 has awarded Dr. Mohammed Hamad Al Kuwaiti, Head of Cyber Security for the UAE Government, the Global Achievement Award 2022 in the category of “Government Professionalism Award” for Europe, the Middle East and Africa regions. Dr. Kuwaiti has received the award in recognition of his relentless work towards strengthening the global status of the United Arab Emirates as a leading country in arena of cybersecurity. The award also highlights the applaud-worthy work by UAE Cybersecurity Council to improve the country’s capabilities in field of cybersecurity, bolstering its national security in the digital age.

UAE’s achievements in field of cybersecurity

The award by (ISC)2 is the leading award in the field of cybersecurity. It has acknowledged and crowned the efforts by UAE and the country’s leading global position in field of cybersecurity, its success in building cybersecurity capabilities and also encouraging international cooperation towards strengthening the national cyber defence and the mechanisms of response. This was done through the launch of the UAE’s “National Cyber Capabilities Building” initiative, that seeks to underline and project the true potential of the Emirates, as well as the National Security Council’s work on cyber resilience while tackling potential breaches and threats.

Initiatives by the UAE Cybersecurity Council

The UAE has introduced FedNet which offers “convenient and on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources for all federal government entities”. One of the unique features of FedNet is the highly secure architecture that strengthens the UAE’s cybersecurity, which is done through a secure and private network called Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) cloud.

Various initiatives launched for the UAE cybersecurity are:

• Salim – online cybersecurity advisor: The UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) in collaboration with Aqdar, launched the initiative Salim which is an online cybersecurity advisor with the slogan ‘Towards a safe cyber culture’.
• UAE ambassadors for electronic security: UAE students are trained to promote and spread awareness regarding cybersecurity.
• Cyber C3: It is an initiative that aims to develop ‘digital citizens’ who can benefit from online participation while they take on responsibility for “self-protection and the potential consequences of their online behaviour”. This calls for positive engagement in online platform.

UAE Pass App

The UAE Pass app is UAE’s first national digital identity and signature solution that helps the users to identify themselves to various government service providers across all emirates through a ‘smartphone-based authentication’. Through this the users can also sign documents digitally protected under high level of security.

Dr. Al Kuwaiti said this global achievement is the “outcome of the directives and vision of the UAE’s leadership, in addition to the cooperation of all national teams, which enhanced the country’s stature in the field of cybersecurity”. He added, “The UAE has a clear strategy aimed at creating a safe and flexible cybersecurity environment, which enables individuals to achieve their aspirations and companies to develop, therefore, improving the digital quality of life and creating a safe digital community in the country, as well as promoting a positive digital identity.”