A man has been jailed for ten years for joining and supporting terror group ISIS. Getty Images
A man has been jailed for ten years for joining and supporting terror group ISIS. Getty Images

Protection from cyber attacks 'critical' as UAE Government prepares to share data



The UAE and countries around the world need to ensure they improve the cyber threat detection surrounding its critical infastructure, experts have said.

Last year, a global cyberattack using hacking tools widely believed by researchers to have been developed by the US National Security Agency crippled the UK's National Health Serivce.

Hospitals and GP surgeries in England and Scotland were among at least 16 health service organisations hit by a "ransomware" attack using malware called Wanna Decryptor.

Staff were forced to revert to pen and paper and use their own mobiles after the attack affected key systems, including telephones.

Hospitals and doctors' surgeries in parts of England were forced to turn away patients and cancel appointments after they were infected with the ransomware, which scrambled data on computers and demanded payments of $300 to $600 to restore access. People in affected areas were being advised to seek medical care only in emergencies.

With the UAE’s announcement last month it would start sharing data collected by the Government soon, being able to protect that exchange will be crucial to avoid similarly damaging breaches and hacks.

“The dynamics of cyber security have changed a lot,” said Saqib Chaudhry, chief information security officer at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi.

“A decade ago, it was about looking at security from a device-protected perspective. Now it’s more data-centric security – you protect security from the source. We came up with data classification levels, dividing information into four different standards and each level has its own security and guidance.”

Data classification is key to be able to know which assets are confidential or sensitive. "We're doing a lot of large deployment of automated classification of data and data leakage protection," said Farrukh Ahmad, head of cybersecurity Mena at PA Consulting. "You can do lots of things with it and we've seen lots of demand in that space."
Society is becoming richer in data by the day. "We're becoming a society [based] on interoperability and a city of resilience," said Jose Carrera, director of governance, risk and compliance at Darkmatter in Abu Dhabi. "You're a walking marketing piece of information to somebody. But the UAE listens and observes what other countries have done and even if they're a private culture, it's all about privacy, tolerance and how we use it and I feel secure here."
Europe is expected to roll out its strongest data protection act later this year. "Privacy is absolutely critical," Mr Ahmad said. "You need to be able to have a good handle on this going forward – the last thing you want is trust being eroded because then people won't trust the governments and that will affect society."
They called on a mechanism looking at the entire data life cycle to ensure privacy, from collecting and storing it to using, sharing and archiving it. The Dubai Smart Office announced recently it had started to develop such a platform.

"Governments can also create a national way of exchanging data, like in the United States, to help standardise the exchange of information in a secure way," Mr Chaudhry said.
Artificial intelligence can also help secure data. "AI tends to be a good way to manage the amount of data," Mr Ahmad said. "Putting malware around your data doesn't work these days so trying to get a good intel from your network is essential for anomaly detection because, unfortunately, we're not winning this war."
As technology continues to mature at an exponential rate, protecting critical assets will prove paramount. Some of these include space, food and water, especially in the Gulf where countries heavily rely on desalination plants.

“Risk management becomes even more important,” said Dr Marios Efthymiopoulos, associate professor of International Security and Strategy at the American University in the Emirates. “It’s a multidimensional element. You have to take into account a city like Dubai or Abu Dhabi that is developing and growing, which comes with it more safety checks and more security regulations that need to be adopted.”

As the UAE imports around 90 per cent of its food, its transportation should also be strictly monitored for cyber security threats, experts said.

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"We all need it," said Peter O'Connell, an independent security specialist at the International Exhibition for National Security and Resilience in the capital this week. "Food transportation must have certain measures and this comes down to and should be driven by a central point of excellence, which appears to be lacking in many organisations."
Paul Park, director of defence, security and public safety at Etisalat Digital, said more work needed to be done in the field. "With technology today, even if the vehicle doesn't have a clever tracking management system, you can figure out where the driver is, control the AC to preserve whatever is in the truck, or give him another route," he said. "There's no excuse for doing nothing. When you do an analysis to see what is critical, you realise you have to do something about it."

A new relationship with the old country

Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates

The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:

ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.

ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.

ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.

ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.

DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.

Signed

Geoffrey Arthur  Sheikh Zayed

SQUADS

South Africa:
Faf du Plessis (capt), Hashim Amla, Temba Bavuma, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada
Coach: Ottis Gibson

Bangladesh:
Mashrafe Mortaza (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Mustafizur Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shakib Al Hasan, Soumya Sarkar, Tamim Iqbal, Taskin Ahmed.
Coach: Chandika Hathurusingha

Cryopreservation: A timeline
  1. Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
  2. Ovarian tissue surgically removed
  3. Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
  4. Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
  5. Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Schedule for Asia Cup

Sept 15: Bangladesh v Sri Lanka (Dubai)

Sept 16: Pakistan v Qualifier (Dubai)

Sept 17: Sri Lanka v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 18: India v Qualifier (Dubai)

Sept 19: India v Pakistan (Dubai)

Sept 20: Bangladesh v Afghanistan (Abu Dhabi) Super Four

Sept 21: Group A Winner v Group B Runner-up (Dubai) 

Sept 21: Group B Winner v Group A Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 23: Group A Winner v Group A Runner-up (Dubai)

Sept 23: Group B Winner v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 25: Group A Winner v Group B Winner (Dubai)

Sept 26: Group A Runner-up v Group B Runner-up (Abu Dhabi)

Sept 28: Final (Dubai)

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.