First-of-its-kind 'Cyber Security Centre' in UAE launched

A strategic partnership for setting up the centre was signed between the two companies by Abdulqader Ali, CEO of Smartworld, and Dr. Mounes Kayyali, CEO of The Kernel.

The initiative is in line with the vision and development strategies of the UAE and Dubai especially toward technological advancements in all areas and supports the most critical component of security for organisations.

Dr. Saeed Al Dhaheri, Chairman of Smartworld, said: “Smartworld is proud to partner with The Kernel for this unique initiative, which will cater to the rapidly-rising demand for cyber security and local talent in this area. With this initiative we reaffirm our commitment to support the UAE leadership’s vision to excel in every sphere.”

The advisory Dr. Saif Al Ketbi said: “UAE and Dubai are making tremendous progress in adopting the world’s latest smart technologies. These advancements bring with them the responsibility to ensure safety from external threats.  Particularly as we witness the launch of several mega projects and hosting the Expo 2020, the progress in the area of smart technology is set to be massive. The  ‘Cyber Security Centre’ rightly caters to the growing need for protection and threat monitoring as it adopts a holistic approach of developing local talent in the area of cyber security along with identifying and protecting organisations against external threats.”

Worldwide, cyber threats have been increasing in sophistication as well as in number of attacks, exposing organisations to threats of losing sensitive information as well as competitive advantage. According to a Kaspersky survey, these costly attacks are now almost routine with 90 percent of the 5,500 companies surveyed reporting at least one security incident and nearly half, 46 percent of businesses, lost sensitive data due to an internal or external security threat.

Al Ketbi said: “Most organisations pay greater attention to developing and implementing projects. However, they need to include security right at the planning stage of a project. A security breach could jeopardise all their efforts. With the opening of the Cyber Security Centre within the UAE, companies across the government and private sector can rest assured as the center will monitor and respond to any form of threats to their security round the clock, alert them about any potential risks they could be exposed to and also help them secure from those.”

“To cater to the rapidly-rising need for cyber security, we also need to ensure a sufficient availability of local pool of talent. The Cyber Security Centre, for the first ever time in this region, will be offering sophisticated training in this arena, with special focus on UAE nationals,” said Al Ketbi.

Dr. Mounes Kayyali, CEO of The Kernel, said: “We have been specialising in the software and security industry since 1987. When we established The Kernel in 2008 in Dubai, the UAE became our home and the base for our permanent HQ.

The Kernel has a large team of security experts and software developers who are dedicated to continuous innovation in the tech industry by developing in-house products for unified threat management, web filtering, and incident response. We utilising cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning, multi-lingual morphology, proprietary algorithms that understand business logic, and we are constantly exploring new research.

“The Kernel is also a partner of several leading security companies in Russia and worldwide, and we have worked on several high-profile projects within the field of cyber security.”

He added: “The Kernel’s strategic partnership with Smartworld comes from shared vision of the need to develop local talent and gather the most capable minds to create a thriving platform and achieve exceptional results. Smartworld vision, experience and capabilities allows us to build state-of-the-art security products together, and achieve a real difference in our industry.”