21 October, 2009

The UAE University signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

The signatories were H.E. Dr. Abdullah Saad Al Khanbashi, UAE University Director, and H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General.

The MoU encompasses a mutual cooperation between the two parties, where the aeCERT is supposed to coordinate and support the response to cyber security incidents; deliver analysis of global and specific cyber security threats; and deliver training, education and advisory services, in order to assist in the mitigation of cyber security risks.

In this respect, H.E. Dr. Al Khanbashi stated that the UAE University, with its expertise and researchers, will contribute effectively in creating a safer environment for the cyber users in the UAE through joint working teams of specialists and trained engineers from both sides, aiming to envisage the joint visions to serve the governmental, commercial and academic sectors; pointing out that such a cooperation will contribute effectively in providing electronic services all throughout the UAE and the GCC States. Dr. Al Khanbashi also pointed out that this cooperation will form an attractive working environment for the young national researchers, providing them with new opportunities to engage in ambitious scientific tasks that cope with facing the increasing challenges.

In his turn, H.E. Mr. Al Ghanim expressed his appreciation to the efforts of the UAE University through their mutual cooperation, stating that ?the TRA builds its routes of action on strong and established scientific rules, where its objectives meet with those of the UAE University in their common aim to create a safe environment for cyber users in the UAE and in all the GCC States.?

Mr. Al Ghanim also expressed his satisfaction for the cooperation that exists between the TRA, represented by the aeCERT, and the UAE University, via signing this MoU to include guidance, education and awareness; advisory; monitoring and response; and research and analysis. Mr. Al Ghanim assured that this MoU will contribute in achieving a number of the TRA objectives for which the aeCERT was established, such as improving the IT infrastructure security of the University through providing consultancy, monitoring and incident response.

Mr. Al Ghanim clarified that ?the TRA introduced SALIM last month, the Emirati Cyber Security Advisor, to provide IT and Internet end users with tips that will protect them against cyber threats and guide them towards a safe cyber culture in the UAE.?

In the final analysis, all organizations, both public and private, ultimately depend on the information they use. Today, that information is held electronically, and the systems on which it depends are increasingly connected over the Internet. This raises significant issues for the protection of the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information that is critical to the national infrastructure. To help with the provision of that protection, the TRA established the aeCERT that constitutes a cyber security coordination center in the UAE, facilitating the detection, prevention and response to the broader set of cyber security incidents on the Internet for the UAE society through its service offerings.