More than 150 chief information officers, chief information security officers and IT heads joined the nation-wide effort to meet the grand challenge of cyber security by gathering at the seventh Cyber Defence Summit in Doha recently.
Organised by French business information group Naseba, the summit discussed key challenges in securing critical infrastructure and sensitive data from cyber attacks, and paved the way for a proactive, collective and collaborative approach.
The agenda was drafted with the supervision of an advisory board comprising Claudio Lo Cicero from Maersk Oil, Mustapha Huneyd from Ooredoo Qatar, Dr Marc Dacier from Qatar Computing Research Institute, Trevor Moore from Qatar University and cyber security strategist Mohamed Zumla.
Four key areas of importance arose in the interactive discussions and presentations of the agenda: developing a culture of cyber security, cyber security capacity-building, industry-specific security efforts (along with dedicated risk management practices) and the protection of disruptive technologies such as cloud, mobile and big data.
Samir Pawaskar, chairperson of the summit and head of cyber security policy and standards at ictQATAR, said: “Platforms like the Cyber Defence Summit are critical to fostering collaboration and enhancing the current state of cyber security in Qatar.”
“A culture of cyber security cannot be created solely by the IT department. It requires a holistic approach where experts of all industries and of all levels come together, along with the common public,” said Aarn Wennekers, adviser to HE the Minister of Energy and Industry on audit and corporate governance matters.
Comparing cyber security to football, Kalle Bjorn from Fortinet noted: “The attacker has a plot, which needs to be foiled, or else a goal is scored – ie; a cyber attack takes place.”
Other industry experts who shared insights at the summit included Farrukh Ahmed of Vodafone Qatar, Yasir Hamza of Qatar Petrochemical Company, Sami al-Shammari of Oryx GTL, Mohamed Ballan of Doha Bank, Dr Munir Tag of Qatar National Research Fund, Jim Jaegar of Fidelis Cybersecurity, Sameh Sabrey of Spire Solutions, Gilles Loridon of GSN and Aftab Afzal of Akamai Technologies.
Alongside the agenda, a key focus of the summit was to introduce Qatari stakeholders to leading cyber security companies that deliver world-class products and services. Presenting their solutions were BAE Systems, Fortinet, Ooredoo, Spire Solutions, Fidelis Cybersecurity, Global Security Networks, Stormshields, Cyberoam, Entrust Datacard and Solucom.
Nicholas Watson, managing director of Naseba, said: “We are very glad to have added value and supported Qatar’s cyber security developments, as the response and feedback from the participants has been overwhelming.”