Dr. Muhammad Al-Kuwaiti, the UAE government’s head of cybersecurity, said the UAE advanced 42 places this year in the global cybersecurity index, rising to fifth place from 47th last year in the over 160-country ranking. In press statements issued on the sidelines of Abu Dhabi’s “Hack in the Box” cybersecurity week, Al-Kuwaiti stated that the UAE aims to climb to the top of the global cybersecurity index in a short period of time, and that it is already moving in that direction, explaining that the state has developed a leadership plan based on several axes, including qualified manpower, reliance on modern technologies, governance, and legislation aimed at maintaining cybersecurity. He noted that the UAE’s strong improvement in the index bolsters the country’s ability to attract investments from enterprises of all nationalities.
He noted that the pandemic saw an increase in attacks using the ransom virus, impersonation, and data leaking in the UAE and around the world, with attempts to compromise the country’s economic, financial, and health sectors, with the majority of them being addressed. According to Al-Kuwaiti, the current and future electronic scene faces a unique problem in the form of the emergence of a digital offensive disease at the sector level, as predictions reveal that digital systems will continue to be vulnerable to electronic attacks around the world.