TRA organizes Cyber Drill Exercise

Mobilk - The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), represented by the Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT), organized a special cyber drill exercise to enhance skills and ensure readiness of cybersecurity teams in the UAE. This exercise was held in cooperation with a number of federal and local authorities.

The point of the exercise is to motivate participating teams and test their readiness through a scenario corresponding to the truth around a security breach of the Internet, in order to identify best practices and methods used in such emergencies.

On this event, Eng. Mohammed Gheyath, TRAs Executive Director of e-Security, said: "This exercise is part of TRAs eagerness to make the UAE a world leader in ICT and to ensure coping with the latest technological advancements in this sector. The training has contributed to raising awareness and strengthening cooperation across government entities in the field of cybersecurity."

Eng. Mohammed Gheyath stressed that the importance of this training comes from the evolution of hacking methods adopted by cybercriminals, adding: "Cybersecurity professionals need continuous and well-planned training to contain all new hacking methods, which makes it imperative to organize such training aimed at creating cooperation between government entities and bringing more robust means of protection against cyberattacks and network hacking attempts in the UAE."

During the session, the participating teams demonstrated outstanding abilities in dealing with such situations, and were able, collaboratively, to contain, respond to and mitigate the attack. Participants also put forward a number of constructive ideas on promoting cybersecurity.

This exercise is part of the National Cyber Security Strategy launched by TRA, to achieve the national vision to secure the UAEs information and communication. This strategy is designed to enhance the security of the UAEs cyberspace and reduce risk levels, in addition to strengthening cooperation between national and international stakeholders to simulate a collaborative environment focused on achieving the desired objectives, managing serious e-incidents to reduce their impact on society and economy, building national capacity and improving research and innovation capabilities to meet and develop the UAE workforce, and promote awareness of cybersecurity and national cybersecurity needs.