Considering the recent surge in cyber-attacks, protection of critical networks and information has become a major global concern. From being featured in UN General Assembly meeting to Premiers of India, USA and Singapore talking about it, cyber security is starting to top the agenda of national and regional priorities.
 
Qatar is no different as it sees cyber security as one of the three grand challenges alongside energy and water security. A significant portion of the country’s ICT spend is being allocated towards developing proactive cyber security and upgrading existing infrastructure and capabilities. Recent developments such as Qatar’s National Cyber Security Strategy and the establishing a National Cyber Security Center have been received positively.
 
One of the key aspects of all these efforts and initiatives is knowledge sharing and collaboration. To this end, French business facilitation company Naseba is hosting the 7^th Edition of the Cyber Defence Summit in Doha on the 13^th & 14^th September 2015. The summit will serve as a high level platform for business leaders to share knowledge, network with peers and consult leading cyber security solution and service providers.
 
Addressing the 120 plus CIOs and CISOs attending the summit are senior representatives from Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, Qatar Foundation, Qatar University, Qatar Petroleum, Maersk Oil and Doha Bank, just to name a few.
 
10 leading solutions and service providers - BAE Systems, Spire Solutions, Fortinet, Ooredoo, Fidelis Cyber Security, Global Security Network, StormShield, CyberRoam, Entrust Datacard and Solucom – will showcase their capabilities during the summit and help overcome the challenges.
 
Director of Cyber Secuirty at BAE Systems Applied Intelligence, Simon Goldsmith, noted “The first challenge is perception. Cyber security is seen as an IT problem for the IT department to fix. Organisations that have suffered a high profile cyber-attack have found out the hard way that treating it as a business, not an IT issue is essential.”
 
Waleed Al Sayed, Chief Operating Officer, Ooredoo Qatar, said: “We understand the specific threats facing banks, financial companies, government, and logistics groups, and we’re working to develop a full portfolio of tailored solutions to ensure Qatar’s information is safe.”
 
“What is really exciting about such events is that it is a productive exchange of ideas that contribute to a better understanding of the cyber security landscape.” said Sanjeev Walia, CEO of Spire Solutions
 
“Networking and knowledge sharing are paramount to addressing the issue of cyber security as it needs to be overcome proactively and collectively. As part of Naseba’s industry meetings division, we have hosted a series of ICT focused initiatives in UAE, Oman and Saudi Arabia in 2014 and 2015, and are excited to be hosting the upcoming event in Qatar.” concluded Naveen Bharadwaj, Senior Project Manager at Naseba - producer of the upcoming summit.