ISNR 2012 Concludes with a vibrant participation of the TRA

Mobilk - The International Security and National Resilience (ISNR) 2012 concluded its activities today in Abu Dhabi. The conference was held from the 19th-21st March 2012 under the patronage of H.H. General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, and supported by the Ministry of Interior in the United Arab Emirates along with the participation of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) as a platinum sponsor at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center.

 

The 2012 version of the conference witnessed wide participation from local ministries, authorities, and governmental bodies in addition to other GCC & MENA ministries, facility directors, purchasing managers for urban transport systems, and government facilities such as the Oil & Gas Infrastructure Security Power Stations and Desalination Plants. The conference also welcomed staff from the management of security and emergency planning, as well as private sector representatives such as operators and end-users of sensitive sites such as airports and ports, utilities, financial, and retail companies.

 

H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim Director General, TRA, said, “The importance of the ISNR Exhibition and Conference has increased due to the growing need of sophisticated equipment to counter international terrorism and promote homeland security and crisis management. The patronage of H.H General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, for this event highlights its importance. Hence, our eagerness to participate as platinum sponsor, and to participate in all its sessions that covered a wide spectrum of subjects in homeland security and intelligence, crisis management, and countering terrorism, management crisis, border security, transportation, vital facilities, and emergency response to threats and disasters.”

 

Al Ghanim added, “Our participation focused on cyber security especially the aeCERT efforts. We benefited from the experiences of others regarding their cyber space security protocols especially in the vital issues that tackle homeland security. 

 

The conference witnessed the opening of a new section for the TRA under the supervision of the aeCERT team to shed light on new cyber space hazards in today’s world with the increase in pirates’ ability to hack governmental and private sector systems.

 

An aeCERT press conference was held during the second day of the conference to present the team’s yearly report. The report shed light on the team’s activities and its role to increase cyber space security’s quality in the country, the activities held in cooperation with many UAE governmental bodies, the signing of a memorandum of understanding to improve cyber security, as well as participation in many regional and international cyber security activities.

 

The third day activities were inaugurated with a speech delivered by H.E. Majed Al Mesmar, TRA Deputy Director General, who welcomed the participating dignitaries and delegations. He noted the importance of such events in promoting cooperation between countries in the security field, referring to the significant semantics of convening such conferences in Abu Dhabi, which demonstrates the level of development and advancement that the country has reached. He said: “Promoting cooperation in the security field is a highly important issue; security threats are no longer limited to the borders of countries, and facing them requires the corporation of all stakeholders. Realizing these facts, the UAE is always keen to host and participate in such events based on its leading position, and the significant role it plays both regionally and globally.”   

 

The aeCERT team sponsored a conference in the second day to tackle many issues related cyber security and digital forensic mechanisms due to the increase of internet users that recently exceeded 1.7 billion around the world. They also informed the visitors about the latest banking and financial cybercrimes. They highlighted the relationship between physical crimes such as rape, kidnap, drug abuse, fraud, to cybercrimes pointing out the importance of the latter in fighting those crimes. They also referred to digital forensics’ role in crime investigations and in industrial and commercial cases, and the role that evidence plays in discovering crime details, catching criminals, and prosecuting them. 

 

The aeCERT team delivered several presentations to identify cyber evidence and explain its importance. The presentation was divided into three parts: the first was the recreation of a crime scene for explanatory purposes.  The second part dealt with gathering the digital forensics from the crime scene, processing the victim’s cyber records, analyzing the data in three steps and then reporting the findings to authorities to help identify the criminal. The third part represented a replication of a crime lab with all the equipment to inform the public of highly sophisticated equipment and mechanisms used.  This was very well received among visitors and explained the high tech level the UAE has reached in this field.   

 

Notably, the TRA participated in ISNR “2010” held in Abu Dhabi in March 2010 and dealt with a wide spectrum of topics related to digital forensics, homeland security in the internet age, and criminal use of social networks.  The conference also had three workshops about malicious programs for criminal purposes, capacity building in digital forensics, and international laws in cybercrimes as well as the dark side of the internet.