Cybersecurity Week to identify mechanisms to tackle cybercrimes

Focus on developing skills to detect offenses enabled by technology

MUSCAT: His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tareq al Said, Adviser to His Majesty the Sultan, on Monday inaugurated the Regional Cybersecurity Week, organised by ITU Arab Regional Cybersecurity Centre (ARCC) affiliated to International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in cooperation with the Ministry of Technology and Communications.

The week runs till October 31 with the participation of 600 specialists and 49 speakers from 45 countries around the world.

The conference included three panel discussions and five working papers, starting with a working paper presented by Marco Obiso, Head of Cyber Security Division, and International Telecommunication Union.

The working papers focused on a number of themes, including cybersecurity vulnerabilities and regulatory reforms requirements for 4th industrial revolution, the importance of regional and international cooperation, partnerships between government and industry in cyber, role of legislative frameworks in preventing and combating cybercrime and the expected returns and profits from providing the elements of cybersecurity. On the sidelines of the conference, the results of the 3rd Cyberstars Regional Threat Hunters 2019 Award were announced, which was designed by ARCC in the Sultanate to create cybersecurity competencies and develop skills and talents in the Arab countries in the field of cybersecurity and to prepare the next generation of cybersecurity specialists in the field of information security and promotion of competition at the regional and global levels.

This year’s edition targeted amateur youths (17-24) and professionals (24+) who have the skills to detect information security vulnerabilities and find the best solutions to fill those gaps. A total of 383 cybersecurity professionals, students and interested individuals from 8 Arab countries participated in the competition, 30 of whom qualified to compete in the final phase of the competition to address a series of challenges in the areas of ethical piracy, infrastructure protection, malware analysis and digital evidence analysis.

The week’s activities will include on Tuesday a FIRST Symposium and 11th OIC-CERT annual conference. On Wednesday and Thursday, the seventh edition of the Regional Cyber Drill will be held.