Page 18 - SOFEX 2022 - Day 1 | DAILY NEWS

COLUMN

CYBERSECURITY

ECOSYSTEM IN

MENA REGION MAKES

MAJOR PROGRESS

By
Adham Etoom,

Head of Policy & Compliance at National
Cyber Security Center of Jordan

Almost more than two thirds of earth’s popu- risks. Only a few countries have created the national cybersecurity framework. The
lation are connected to the Internet. Hence, and implemented national cybersecurity risk-based framework focuses on risks
businesses and individuals are similarly defense strategies and capabilities. These aspects in all its capabilities and involves
more reliant than ever on the Internet in governments are handling cybersecurity as risk quantification as decision support
virtually every aspect of their existence. strategically and with as much importance, capability at enterprise, sector, and national
Therefore, the sum of all possible security as the defense programs in the land, sea, level.
risk exposures of such global connectivity air, and space domains.
and dependency is truly huge. A robust governance system is a necessity
No government alone has the ability to as tension exists between the regulating
When it comes to cybersecurity no enter- improve overall cybersecurity maturity at entity and the enforcement entity. The
prise is an island, even if it exists in the national level and to mitigate cyber risks sector regulators are responsible not only
metaverse. Every entity of any complexity properly without help from the private-sec- for creating awareness about cybersecurity
exchanges sensitive data and intercon- tor, academia, citizens, professionals, cyber standards and mandatory requirements in
nects networks with customers, suppliers, experts and leaders who can envision and their respective sectors but also for enforc-
and other business partners. As a result, implement a forward-thinking strategy. ing them. To ensure effective compliance,
cybersecurity-related questions of trust and sector committees typically audit sectoral
the burden of mitigating strategies have Buzzing With Activity entities on a periodic basis and may choose
become paramount to value chains in many to apply incentives or penalties.
interdependent sectors. Various governments in MENA region have
adopted a series of measures in recent 2. National Critical Infrastructure Protection
In the 21st century, one of the biggest years to develop and advance cybersecurity program – The primary focus of a cyberse-
threats that nations face is from state-spon- defenses capabilities at the national level. curity center or agency should be protecting
sored cyber warfare. State-sponsored Some of the measures are: critical infrastructure. Critical infrastructure
cyberattacks carry out disruptive attacks is typically the most attractive target for
and infiltrate the critical infrastructure of 1. Establishing a dedicated national cyber- bad actors. Disruption to critical infra-
countries around the world for political, sci- security center or agency to guarantee structure can have severe impact on the
entific, economical, or financial reasons or overall responsibility and accountability economy, business confidence, public trust,
all reasons may be combined. and to provide national oversight. The society, and even on overall national secu-
agency is tasked with defining and driving rity. Critical infrastructure typically consists
A cyber-attack on any critical infrastructure the cybersecurity agenda of the country. of both information technology systems
in one sector can lead to disruption in other This involves developing a consistent and operational technology facilities. This
sectors as well. For instance, an attack on national cybersecurity strategy with a makes it harder and more complicated
a national power grid may disrupt telecoms portfolio of initiatives, such as protecting to protect without understanding these
networks and have a massive impact, critical infrastructure, mobilizing the right intricacies, especially in technology con-
undermining availability, confidentiality, response to cyber incidents, defining cyber- vergence of both aspects.
and integrity of data, and causing financial security frameworks, standards, improving
loss from several interdependent sectors the cyber awareness of citizens, as well as In Jordan, the NCSC JO works with the
at the national and/or international level. developing and advancing cybersecurity regulator of each critical sector to prepare
Although cybersecurity risks are recognized workforce capabilities. criteria for what should constitute critical
internationally, governments still strug- In Jordan, the National Cyber Security assets in that sector. Employing a glob-
gle to define the right way to tackle such Center (NCSC JO) has started to develop ally accepted standard makes it easier for
18 | NOVEMBER-01-2022 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS