The Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC) has launched a new cybersecurity platform, known as ‘TIRS’, which translates to ‘Shield’ in English, at GISEC 2021.
Speaking at the Government Stage, Ghaith Alsuwaidi, Deputy Director, Security Systems for DESC, unveiled the new platform which, designed entirely by a team of UAE nationals, scans Dubai government websites to detect vulnerabilities within departments, delivers top line data and issues a safety score out of five.
The platform also creates a threat report to inform participating entities on critical weaknesses, enabling them to take appropriate action to resolve any security gaps. Once the threat is identified and dealt with, DESC will confirm the action taken within the TIRS system.
“TIRS is one of the key pillars monitoring Dubai’s cyberspace, through the Dubai Cyber Index Platform. We continuously scan government websites and based on the security of the government entities we give them a score out of five. It ensures the security of government websites and introduces competitiveness in terms of website security, all the time making Dubai’s cyberspace safer,” said Alsuwaidi, adding that the TIRS scoring will be a parameter on the Dubai Cyber Index by the end of this year.
UAE CYBER RESILIENCE REPORT REVEALED
Digital14 launched its Cyber Resilience Report: The UAE Threat Landscape 2021, during GISEC.
Cyber defence experts evaluated and analyzed multiple digital assets in the UAE to give an in-depth understanding of the country’s threat landscape.
Digital14’s research revealed an exponential surge in phishing and ransomware with 1.1 million phishing attacks in 2020.
Key findings of the report include:
• In 2020, 249,955 vulnerabilities were found in 800,315 unique instances
• Significant numbers of old vulnerabilities, some dating back to 2000, have yet to be remediated within UAE organisations’ networks. These can easily provide an entry point for devastating cyberattacks
• Ransomware increased with a 33% rise in the number of new ransomware families compared with 2019
‘THE HUNT’ IS ON AT GISEC
Day two of GISEC also witnessed the launch of an online competition for cybersecurity experts to build CERT capability and cyber resilience.
The Hunt 2021 Socathon will see 130 participants in 30 teams spanning 12 countries battle it out in a 24-hour contest. The challenge, enabled by Cyber Unit Technologies Training and Exercise Range (CUTTER®) will see teams target cyber competencies in a real-world attack scenario on Security Operation Centres (SOC).
