Dr Al Kuwaiti leads UAE delegation at Cyber Week, highlighting UAE-Israel cyber alliance

Image credit: Divsha Bhat/Gulf Business

Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, head of Cybersecurity for the UAE Government, led a prominent UAE delegation of leading Emirati entities to the Cyber Week 2023 conference in Tel Aviv this week.

Cyber Week is an annual international cybersecurity event, hosted each year at Tel Aviv University in Israel for over last 12 years.

The participation from the UAE serves as a testament to the flourishing relation and strengthening bonds between the UAE and Israel in the realm of cybersecurity.

Dr Al Kuwaiti addressed the CyberWeek conference as a keynote speaker in the main plenary panel titled “Safeguarding the Nation: Cybersecurity Strategies for a Digital Age”, along with Gaby Portnoy, director general of the Israel National Cyber Directorate and several top international government officials.

During the visit, the UAE delegation met with the central cyber stakeholders in the Israeli cyber ecosystem including investors, chief information security officers and top cyber experts.

They also visited cyber labs and R&D centres and startups to explore opportunities to deepen the ongoing partnerships.

The visit provided valuable insights into the latest global trends in cybersecurity and allowed the participants to explore potential collaborations and bilateral investment opportunities.

Dr Al Kuwaiti, head of UAE Cyber Security Council said: “Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility that can never be addressed by one person, organiSation or country alone.

Instead, it requires mutual collaboration between the private and public sectors. Partnership with the industry and academia is critical as it brings all the stakeholders of the digital ecosystem together with a common vision. Our goal is to spread the cyber security culture. The end result will be a more secure, more resilient digital future, not only for the UAE but for our partners and friends.”

Amir Hayek, ambassador of Israel to the UAE said: “This delegation, led by Dr Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, represents the ongoing collaboration between Israel and the UAE in the cybersecurity domain, as both nations recognise the critical importance of a secure and resilient digital infrastructure.

Israel remains committed to nurturing these relationships and promoting cross-border partnerships in cybersecurity and beyond.”

EliteCISOs, Cyber Together MoU signed at Cyber Week

On the sidelines of the Cyber Week conference, the UAE-based EliteCISOs, a global cybersecurity community, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Israel-based Cyber Together, an Israeli NGO, to expand this global community to Israel.

The MOU marks the beginning of a strategic partnership aimed at fostering cooperation in the field of cybersecurity between key professionals in both countries.

The signing event was held in the presence of Dr Al Kuwaiti and Oded Joseph, deputy director general, head of Middle East Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Israel.

Joseph stated: “Israel is fully committed to fostering collaborations and partnerships with the UAE between the various ecosystems of innovation of our nations.

This MoU, a strategic partnership between two leading cyber security stakeholders, further strengthens our relations and represents the shared benefits of the Abraham Accords beyond the relationship between governments to partnerships between organisations and people.”

Under the terms of the MOU, EliteCISOs and Cyber Together will collaborate on various initiatives including knowledge-sharing, joint training and workshops to enhance cybersecurity capabilities, promote the development of a cybersecurity workforce and address emerging threats in both the UAE and Israel.

The relationship between EliteCISOs and Cyber Together was initiated and fostered by the Consulate-General of Israel in Dubai as part of its wider effort to establish new cyber-based partnerships between entities in the two countries.

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