TRA: Middle East ranks low in global cyber attacks

The Middle East has one of the lowest levels of cyber threats in the world, revealed H.E. Mohamed Al Ghanim, director general of the UAE Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

Al Ghanim was the keynote speaker for the Middle East IT Security Conference (MEITSEC) 2008 - a forum that brings together industry experts and organizations to discuss regulatory frameworks, internet security, intellectual protection and other information security issues.

To address these concerns, the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) was established last year to detect, protect and respond to various threats.

While many might believe the region is increasingly becoming a target for cyber criminals, the Middle East still ranks quite low in terms of threats.

Speaking exclusively to itp.net, H.E. Mohamed Al Ghanim, director general of the UAE TRA said that “…if you look at the statistics of worldwide attacks - whether it’s the US, Asia or Europe – you’ll find the least number of threats in the Middle East.”“We monitor threats 24 hours and we haven’t seen anything that leads us to say the status is an ‘emergency’. Everything is stable at the moment but we are monitoring geo-political aspects from a cyber security point of view,” Al Ghanim added.

Launched by the TRA, the Trustae initiative for online e-providers, was also discussed at MEITSEC. To acquire a Trustae ‘seal’, providers must comply with specific codes of conduct related to online business practices in an effort to build trust and confidence in e-commerce regionally.