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Doha – Qatar (Dec. 4, 2017)

In the presence of HE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti, the Qatar Computer Emergency Response Team (Q-CERT) today launched the first phase of its 5th National Cybersecurity Drill “Star 5”, with participation from more than 70 entities representing various sectors, including government, financial, energy, transportation, communications, in addition to government and semi-government companies. 

Attended by over 350 professionals from various industries, Star 5’s first phases focus on procedural training. It includes scenarios that differ from one sector to another, aiming to assess the availability of procedural preparedness such as the relevant policies and standards. It also features scenarios that simulate communication at crises, which is one of the lessons learned from the blockade.     

The 5th National Cyber Security Drill completes a series of national drills that the Ministry began in 2013 aiming to develop and raise the efficiency and preparedness of State institutions to address the cyberattacks, said Mr. Khalid Al-Hashmi, Assistant Undersecretary of Cyber Security, Ministry of Transport and Communications.

This aims, he said, to achieve the objectives of the Qatar National Cyber Security Strategy; developing and harnessing the national cyber security capabilities, enhancing preparedness, responding to, resolving and recovering from incidents and cyberattacks via cooperation and timely information sharing.

The second phase, which begins next week, is going to focus on the technical aspect of the drill. This aims to sharpen cyber threats monitoring, surveillance and containment capacity and skills.

Noteworthy, Q-CERT last week organized a preliminary workshop entitled, “Communication Management in Times of Crisis” where participants were introduced to internal and external communication best practices in times of crisis that public and private organizations might encounter.