Efforts to combat cyber attacks against the UAE amid the Iran conflict have been successful and continue to be a major focus, the UAE's assistant foreign minister for advanced science and technology said.
Omran Sharaf spoke about the UAE's approach to cyber threats, AI and science endeavours late last week during an appearance at the multi-day AI+ Expo in Washington, organised by the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP).
"A lot of people think look at this conflict just from the standpoint of aircraft, fighter jets, missiles and drones,” Mr Sharaf said on Thursday when asked about how the UAE has dealt with the conflict since February 28, when US and Israeli strikes first hit Iran which resulted in the country retaliating throughout the region.
"Another side to this conflict which was very critical, and which the UAE and other countries in the region had to deal with has been the cyber sort of thing and digital security,” he explained.
Even before the most recent conflict with Iran began on February 28, the country has been known for more the decade to have bolstered its cyber crime efforts.
A 2025 digital defence report from Microsoft indicated that Iran most frequently targeted Israel, the US, the UAE and India with attempted cyber attacks.
Amid the current friction with Iran, cyber security analysts and international officials have warned of a widening front in the Middle East crisis, where kinetic warfare, economic disruption and co-ordinated online campaigns are percolating and becoming more of a problem.
"Countries like the UAE, others in the GCC, the US and Israel have proven to be quite busy,” Mr Sharaf told the moderator at AI+.
Last month, UAE cybersecurity chief Mohamed Al Kuwaiti said that attacks on its digital infrastructure tripled from 200,000 to 600,000 since the start of the war.
In recent weeks, the UAE has sought to bolster its efforts to keep all hands on deck with regard to cyber attacks.
Those efforts involve what many refer to as cyber hygiene, which broadly means raising awareness about cyber security basics.
The Abu Dhabi Emergencies, Crises and Disasters Management Centre released document to inform residents of common cyber threats, reasons for the increase in cyber attacks and signs of suspicious messages and links.
“Exploiting fear and confusion among individuals”, it said, alluding to the current situation in the region, leads to “rushed digital decision-making without adequate verification”.
The spread of rumours, the document warns, also increases fear, which raises mental fatigue, making it more likely that people will click on nefarious links or provide personal information that could lead to hacking.
The UAE's assistant Foreign Minister for Advanced Science and Technology also told AI+ that the country has done its due diligence in recent years to keep it burgeoning AI data centre infrastructure safe from potential attacks as well.
"We've always been keen when it comes to crisis management and the protection of data centres with our plans to make sure that there are always redundancies and policies in place to make sure that we have continuity, and that's even more important now,” he said.
Iran has also been prolific in its attempts to compromise US computer networks.
In some instances, Iran-linked hacker groups have had success on that front.
The US federal government sent out an advisory back in April to various entities saying hackers linked to Iran had attacked industrial devices and if the attacks remained unaddressed, the hacks could affect the water, wastewater treatment and energy sectors.
In March, Handala, another significant Iran-linked hacker group compromised the personal email accounts of US FBI Director Kash Patel, releasing several emails and photos of him.
"Soon you will realise that the FBI's security was nothing more than a joke,” the group wrote.
