Dacier speaking at the ‘2nd Information Security Conference for the Financial Sector’ in Doha yesterday. PICTURE: Nasser TK

By Peter Alagos
Business Reporter


Collaborative research between cybersecurity research teams and authorities in Qatar’s financial sector could help address potential threats and attacks from cybercriminals, an industry expert has said.
Speaking at the “2nd Information Security Conference for the Financial Sector,” organised by the Qatar Central Bank, Dr Marc C Dacier discussed strategies that could help address cybercrime issues affecting the financial sector in the presentation “Threat Intelligence Sharing: The Why and How.”
Dacier, who is the principal scientist of the Cybersecurity Group at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), said threat intelligence sharing with customers and employees, and research collaborations between IT and finance experts will help raise awareness against cybercrime.
He stressed that customers and field-based IT experts are among the first sources of information companies could use to detect a potential threat or an attack “as long as they have a way to report it.”
On research collaboration, Dacier cited a case where security researchers in the US engaged in a joint project with a financial institution by making a fake bank accounts, fake credit cards, and launched phishing attacks and other scams “just to follow the money, which led to extremely interesting results.”
“I think the financial sector can be part of the solution for cybersecurity because in many cases the suspects in cybercrime are going after the money; and people in the financial sector have the visibility and access to money.
“This is also threat intelligence sharing and it can help those in cybersecurity. There is a disconnect, nowadays, between those in IT who are doing cybersecurity research and the financial sector, and I think there could be ways, especially here in Qatar, to build a trust relationship needed to start such interesting projects,” Dacier explained.
He said QCRI is working on new ways to share information using a variety of techniques.
“We have developed techniques that enable you to understand how you are under attack…we extract from the so-called ‘modus operandi’ of the attackers and with this information, we build protocols so you could start sharing or seeing other people who were subject to the same attacks or the same modus operandi, without necessarily revealing sensitive information,” he said.
Though “relatively recent,” Dacier said the Cybersecurity Group at QCRI has engaged with a number projects with local stakeholders. Aside from strengthening QCRI’s relationship with the financial sector, Dacier said the institute is also working with experts in the critical infrastructure domain such as the oil and gas sector.
“Cybercrime knows no borders…everything we see elsewhere, we see it here. And we have to be cautious about it because things are developing quickly…it is important to let people know and events such as this are important in raising awareness. Cybersecurity is everybody’s job,” Dacier said.