The TRA’s aeCERT Organizes a Workshop on Online Banking Security

04/01/2016

THE GENERAL AUTHORITY FOR REGULATING THE TELECOMMUNICATION SECTOR (TRA), REPRESENTED BY ITS SUBSIDIARY, THE UAE COMPUTER EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM (AECERT), ORGANIZED A WORKSHOP ON THE SECURITY OF THE BANKING SECTOR AND ONLINE BANKING WITH THE AIM OF SHEDDING THE LIGHT ON THE LATEST TECHNOLOGIES ADOPTED IN THIS FIELD.

The General Authority for Regulating the Telecommunication Sector (TRA), represented by its subsidiary, the UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT), organized a workshop on the security of the banking sector and online banking with the aim of shedding the light on the latest technologies adopted in this field.

A multitude of prominent online banking experts and representatives from the banking sector and many banks participated in the workshop. The agenda entailed a discussion about potential threats, preventive measures, and methods to protect the financial sector, in addition to ways to enhance the current security and prevention procedures. Participants discussed significant topics and challenges that future studies should focus on, in addition to the importance of communicating and collaborating with all parties.

In this context, H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, UAE TRA Director General, stated: “Information security has become an integral part of our national safety, especially in light of the rapid global developments in ICT, therefore, we are so pleased to collaborate with our strategic partners in taking all preventive measures that ensure the highest safety levels for all vital sectors across UAE. Our main aim is protecting the banking sector and banks from the negative impact of the cyber-attacks, which will reflect positively on this sector’s customers. We believe that an increased confidence in the banking sector will fortify the international leading position that UAE acquires as a magnet for all foreign investments and capitals that are looking for attractive technologically advanced markets to invest in”.

“A Study conducted recently in UK indicated that 1% of all big organizations were subject to hacking last year and 60% of small organizations were hacked. The same study revealed that the amount of financial loss that resulted from security threats increased reaching 34% in the same period. This figure reflects the importance of taking all measures and unifying international efforts to protect this sector.” H.E. added

Engineer Adel Al Mehairi, aeCERT Director, stated that: “The workshop was marked by the diversity and richness of the discussed topics which served the main goal which is providing UAE banks with the highest security levels. I would like to mention here the importance of anticipating and expecting and the attackers’ behavior and actions, in addition to the need to advance our protection methods to match the qualitative development that UAE is witnessing, in other words we should adopt the (prevention better than cure) concept.”

All participants affirmed that all organizations despite their sizes must provide a safe environment for all transactions as this will have a positive impact on the entities’ professional reputation and will reflect positively on the social stability.