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Doha – Qatar

The events of the 7th National Cybersecurity Drill (Star 7) began on Sun. with participation from more than 900 professionals from 95 government and private entities across Qatar.

Star 7, which continues until Dec. 5, is organized this year under the theme; “National Cyber Defenses: Know Your Adversaries” with various exercises that test entities’ preparedness to address and handle cyberattacks.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications holds a national cybersecurity drill every year to achieve the objectives of the Qatar National Cybersecurity Strategy in terms of sharpening national cybersecurity capacity and boosting cyberattacks response preparedness like detecting, investigating, managing and responding to cyberbreaches.

MOTC’s Assistant Undersecretary of Cybersecurity Mr. Eng. Khalid Al-Hashmi said that such national drills help measure the level of maturity across all institutions and entities in Qatar regarding defending their electronic assets and addressing weaknesses. These drills, he added, help diagnose exciting information security issues, suggest appropriate solutions and enhance the relevant policies and standards.

The 7th National Cybersecurity Drill complements last year’s 6th National Cybersecurity Drill, which focused on securing major events from a cybersecurity standpoint with deeper details and more thorough exercises this year in preparation for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, said Eng. Nora Yousef Al-Abdulla, Director, Critical Information Infrastructure Protection at the Cyber Security Sector, MOTC.

Star 7 scenarios were designed based on the outcomes of all previous exercises, in addition to other various cyberthreats that target Qatar and the region in general, she noted.

Year after year, she said, the scenarios of each national drill are becoming closer to reality where problem solvers are divided into two teams; the operation team and the technology team with each of them having to face and address the challenge their own way separately but this year’s exercises are based on teamwork, which means the two teams will have to work together to take decisions together, thus giving a rapider response.