1 September, 2009

Within its goal to achieve continuous cooperation and enhance partnership with effective national authorities and institutes in the fields of security and Information Technology (IT), and to implement its strategy that aim to focus the efforts on supporting the security statues of the UAE IT infrastructure, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to coordinate and support the response to cyber security incidents in the UAE. The signing ceremony took place on Tuesday, 1 September 2009, at the MOI offices in Abu Dhabi; where the signatories were H.E. Lt. Gen. Saif A. Al Sha’afar, MOI Undersecretary, and H.E. Mohamed N. Al Ghanim, TRA Director General.

The General Directorate of E-Services & Telecom in the MOI will activate this MoU through its tasks and activities that aim to build an IT database, innovate and develop telecom networks, and innovate and develop the security electronic systems management specialized in the security and safety of the MOI systems. It will also apply electronic services programs; prepare policies, strategies and implementations in the ICT field; and support the aim to apply the concepts of the e-Government.

This MoU is important to the TRA because it is considered within the basic tasks in implementing the TRA strategy to support and provide the MOI with special services to improve the MOI’s IT infrastructure security through the aeCERT’s providing consultancy, monitoring and incident response, and research and analysis. The TRA aims at providing safety and security to all ministries and government authorities and institutes by encouraging them to sign MoUs with the aeCERT.

The aeCERET is one of the TRA initiatives established to apply its strategy to support a safe cyberspace in the UAE, where the aeCERT was accredited by the Ministerial Council for Services Direct Number (5/89) for 2008 as the National CERT of the UAE, to facilitate the detection, prevention and response of cyber security incidents on the Internet.