The Abu Dhabi Digital Authority (ADDA), in partnership with cybersceuirty company Trend Micro, launched the Cyber Defense Challenge.
ADDA had stated that they aim to strengthen the cybersecurity infrastructure of Abu Dhabi’s organizations’ servers and hybrid data cloud centers through this new initiative.
The initiative comes as Trend Micro and ADDA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which comprised of ensuring they adopt the latest technology and solutions pertaining to cybersecurity and to also conduct a number of workshops for IT employees working in the public sector in an effort to ensure they gain the adequate training and education to deal with cybersecurity-related issues.
ADDA is a public sector enterprise that sets out the standard cybersecurity transformation framework for all government entities within the city of Abu Dhabi. Their role also includes carrying out detailed audits and assessments, review all software developed during the public sector’s digital transformation phase and manage security operations in order to ensure a high level of resilience and efficiency.
The Cyber Defense Challenge is a one day workshop which is aimed at training IT professionals to ‘think like a hacker’ to improve their capabilities on how to protect IT assets during an attack. They launched a number of simulated cyberattacks through which the teams could work together and formulate their own strategies against the attack.
Mohamed Geyath, Executive Director of Information Security Operation Sector, ADDA, said, “In line Abu Dhabi’s vision to build a secure, globally competitive and sustainable knowledge-based economy, Abu Dhabi Digital Authority continues to engage in initiatives that increase the IT protection of the Emirate and the country’s digital infrastructure, systems and data. The Cyber Defense Challenge is one of the strategies that ADDA supports and promotes to help strengthen our security capabilities following innovative solutions and training, and thereby enhancing the skills of our human capital.”
Fabio Picoli, Managing Director of GCC at Trend Micro, said, “As the UAE’s digital footprint continues to expand, many organizations face increased risk of cyberattacks. Our partnership with ADDA on the Cyber Defense Challenge has been a success and has contributed to our efforts to increase the specialists’ awareness about hackers’ techniques and tools, and which technology solutions organizations can put in place to protect their environments. By exchanging best practices from global technology companies such as Trend Micro, the UAE is ideally-positioned to have the most advanced security systems and processes to enable the digital economy.”