UAE's love affair with the smartphone increases cyber threats, experts warn


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DUBAI // The UAE's love affair with the smartphone has a downside - an increased threat of cyber crime.

As mobile usage increases, with residents now averaging two phones each, so do the threats posed by hackers, phishing scams and internet fraud.

The widespread use of smart phones and tablets means that residents are online more and are bigger targets for cyber criminals.

But law enforcement agencies are in discussions with Microsoft over how to combat the threat.

A meeting at the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority Conference and Training centre in Dubai with authority and industry figures shared ideas on how to tackle the issue.

The event highlighted the dangers involved in cloud computing, or storing and sharing data online, which has lead to more sophisticated attempts to steal personal information through mobile devices.

Meshal bin Hussain, operations manager for the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team said: "By inviting local Government security experts to exchange their views on mobile security, we are enhancing the national expertise on cyber security incidents in the mobile sphere.

"User awareness, with cyber-attack prevention and detection, and the development of a fast, targeted, efficient response are directly in line with the objectives of the m-Government initiative that aim to protect mobile users against imminent security threats."

The Government continues to emphasise the importance of mobile services and last month rolled out the m-Government initiative to improve connectivity and communication with authorities.

The meeting took place as a study published last week showed that the increasing use of social media and mobile phones in the workplace was contributing to a greater risk of cyber attacks on UAE companies.

Gulf Business Machines (GBM), an IT company with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, published the findings. It surveyed 485 IT professionals in the UAE and found that 43 per cent of them had experienced a security incident in the last year.

Two thirds said they believed the region was a "prime target" for cyber criminals.

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When it is unveiled at Abu Dhabi Art, the Standing Tall exhibition will appear as an interplay of poetry and art. The 100 scarves are 100 fragments surrounding five, figurative, female sculptures, and both sculptures and scarves are hand-embroidered by a group of refugee women artisans, who used the Palestinian cross-stitch embroidery art of tatreez. Fragments of Sheikh Zayed’s poem Your Love is Ruling My Heart, written in Arabic as a love poem to his nation, are embroidered onto both the sculptures and the scarves. Here is the English translation.

Your love is ruling over my heart

Your love is ruling over my heart, even a mountain can’t bear all of it

Woe for my heart of such a love, if it befell it and made it its home

You came on me like a gleaming sun, you are the cure for my soul of its sickness

Be lenient on me, oh tender one, and have mercy on who because of you is in ruins

You are like the Ajeed Al-reem [leader of the gazelle herd] for my country, the source of all of its knowledge

You waddle even when you stand still, with feet white like the blooming of the dates of the palm

Oh, who wishes to deprive me of sleep, the night has ended and I still have not seen you

You are the cure for my sickness and my support, you dried my throat up let me go and damp it

Help me, oh children of mine, for in his love my life will pass me by. 

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UAE squad Rohan Mustafa (captain), Chirag Suri, Shaiman Anwar, Rameez Shahzad, Mohammed Usman, Adnan Mufti, Saqlain Haider, Ahmed Raza, Mohammed Naveed, Imran Haider, Qadeer Ahmed, Mohammed Boota, Amir Hayat, Ashfaq Ahmed

Fixtures Nov 29-Dec 2

UAE v Afghanistan, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi

Hong Kong v Papua New Guinea, Sharjah Cricket Stadium

Ireland v Scotland, Dubai International Stadium

Namibia v Netherlands, ICC Academy, Dubai

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