DOHA: The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (ictQATAR) will conduct sector-specific cyber security drills from 2015, said a senior official of the ministry on the sidelines of the second National Cyber Security Drill yesterday.
The drill is organised annually to improve the readiness of public and private organisations against cyber threats.
“From next year, we will conduct separate drills for different sectors because each sector’s requirement is different for cyber security. The idea is to decentralise the exercise,” said Khalid Al Hashmi, Executive Director, Cyber Security, National Information Security Center, ictQATAR.
“The national initiative aligns with the National Cyber Security Strategy’s second objective — drills,” he told media persons.
In the first phase, focus will be on the financial and oil and gas sector. There are no sector-specific drills and representatives from different sectors participate in one exercise.
“The nature of cyber threats to one sector differs from other sector,” said Rashid Al Neami, Cyber Security Specialist.
More than 320 delegates from around 35 organisations from sectors, including finance, telecommunications, energy, government, transportation, aviation and health, participated in the drill.
The drill is the first of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa region and setting global standards for information security exercises to improve collaboration and nations’ readiness to address cyber risks as one team, said officials.
The Peninsula
