ITA, OOC sign pact for cyber security services

MUSCAT: The Information Technology Authority (ITA), represented by the Arab Regional Cybersecurity Centre of ITU hosted in Oman and Oman Oil Company (OOC), signed a Partnership Agreement to enable OOC and its group of companies to benefit from the cyber security services offered by ITA and the Arab Regional Cybersecurity Centre of ITU.

This was announced in an event held yesterday at the OOC headquarters, where Bader bin Ali al Salehi, Head of the Arab Regional Cybersecurity Centre, Directorgeneral of Oman National CERT at ITA and Saleh bin Abdullah al Musalhi, Director-general of Human Capital, ICT and Supply Chain at Oman Oil Company, signed the agreement, with the attendance of representatives from both parties.

The partnership consists of providing specialised cyber security services including customised training opportunities in the field of information security for OOC and its subsidiaries, which are in line with the internationally recognised standards. The training programmes will include a number of technical and specialised topics in the field of cyber security, such as risk assessment and detection of vulnerabilities, which will contribute in protecting the organisations from attacks that may occur as a result of these vulnerabilities or reduce the impact of the risks in case they occur, additionally the services also include cyber security assessments and cyber threat and risk notifications services.

On the importance of this agreement, Al Salehi said, “Signing this partnership agreement comes under the initiatives adopted by the centre to promote cooperation with the private sector particularly to enhance the cyber security within the critical national infrastructure industry (CNIS). The partnership agreement aims to enable CNIS to benefit from the cyber security services offered by the regional centre to enhance cyber security readiness at CNIS as well as engaging Omani companies to contribute to the delivery of cyber security services.”

“The partnership takes place at this critical period where CNIS especially the oil and gas industry have been always targeted by cyber security threats regionally and internationally. Thus, the partnership includes specialised cyber security training and awareness programmes, cyber threat and notification services, security assessment services and the opportunity for OCC and its subsidiaries to participate in the regional centre events,” he further added.

Commenting on the strategic partnership between OOC group of companies and ITA, Saleh bin Abdullah al Musalhi, said: “Choosing ITA as a strategic partner is to further enhance our collaboration as a company with the government sector, as well as to learn and train from the best expertise in the market.” Adding, “Due to the continuous rapid development of the IT platform, and the on-going IT security issues the world has faced recently, it is of utmost importance for us as a group of companies to ensure we create partnerships with industry experts to enhance our training opportunities for further knowledge transfer and to adopt the best practices to mitigate threats.”

It is worth mentioning that the establishment of strategic partnerships in the field of cyber security should contribute to the protection of government and CNI entities especially through the application of the best international standards and practices. The partnership with OOC is to enhance cooperation based on capacity building and training to ensure a higher level of system development and enhanced skills to deal effectively with threats that the organisation may face in the future.