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Doha-

HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed al-Sulaiti has attended the annual Cyber Security Drill in Doha.  Organized by the National Center for Information Security (Q-CERT), a part of the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the 4-day event invites government and private institutions to participate in practical exercises in how to combat cyber-attacks and to raise awareness and readiness.

Under the title ‘Defending the Nation – Securing Major Events’ the exercise focuses specifically on cyber security surrounding large sporting events, primarily the FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar in 2022. More than 800 participants are attending this year’s event, Star 6, the largest since its launch in 2013.

Representatives from 95 institutions involved in 11 different sectors, including energy, finance, transport, health, education, sports, telecommunications, hospitality, and media, have this year been joined by attendees from Britain, France, the US and Kuwait. 

Speaking at the event, the Minister said; “Cybersecurity drills aim to achieve the objectives of our national strategy in developing and refining national cybersecurity capabilities by creating and maintaining a professional workforce in this field, enhancing readiness and response to electronic incidents and attacks, solving them and recovering from them through co-operation and information exchange in a timely manner.”

The Minister also explained that the drill deals with the lessons learned from the last World Cup hosted by Russia, where cyber-attacks during the hosting of the tournament were reviewed and analyzed, adding that different scenarios were built in to the drill to give participants practical experience in combating various types of attack.