National Cyber Security Agency organized the second edition of Qatar Cyber Assurance Conference

The National Cyber Security Agency organized today, Thursday, September 28, 2023, the second edition of Qatar Cyber Assurance conference  in its second edition under the title: Governance of  Cyber security  Supply Chain, in the presence of His Excellency Mr. Mohammed bin Ali Al-Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, His Excellency Mr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Sayed Minister of State and Chairman of the Free Zones Authority, His Excellency Engineer AbdulRahman bin Ali Al-Farahid Al-Malki -President of the National Cyber Security  Agency and His Excellency Engineer Bassam Maharmah -President of the National Cyber Security Center of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The conference aims to enhance cyber awareness of governance and cyber security of supply chains  through issuing certificates of compliance in accordance with national standards as well as accreditation programs for cyber security service providers through Qatar  Common Criteria Scheme  which is recognized globally.

The conference witnessed launching the accreditation service for penetration testing service providers as part of the accreditation program offered by the agency.

His Excellency Engineer AbdulRahman bin Ali Al Farahid Al-Malki-President of the National Cyber Security Agency added “ Today we celebrate the second edition of Qatar Cyber Assurance Conference, which culminates the mission of the National Cyber Security Agency in strengthening and developing the governance of cyber security supply chain in the State of Qatar.

His Excellency added; “Based on our keenness to support the cyber security system in the country in accordance with the Qatar National Vision and the National Cyber security Strategy, today we are making unremitting efforts to ensure the integrity of critical data and information and to maintain the continuity of supply chain operations in the field of cyber security in compliance with national standards.

His Excellency expressed his honor in Qatar’s achievement in obtaining the International Recognized Approval for Issuing Information Security Certificates for IT devices as the first country in the Middle East and North Africa to issue those internationally recognized certificates from the Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA). 

During the  opening speech, Engineer Dana Al-Abdullah, Director of Governance and  National Assurance Affairs at the National Cyber Security Agency, said, "Many organizations are being penetrated due to supply chain which requires working in several directions. Therefore, the concept of governance and communication with the concerned entities is the cornerstone for reaching a safe and balanced strategy in supply chain governance without  hindering development, innovation and sustainable economic development."

“The National Cyber Security Agency is constantly striving to create a safe and resilent cyberspace and one of the most important initiatives and programs to achieve this goal is to comply with the national cyber security standards and requirements,” she added.

Mrs Al Abdulla reviewed the programs launched by the State of Qatar years ago to secure supply chain, including accreditation  programs for cyber security  service providers, programs to examine devices and applications and issue compliance certificates while stressing on the continuity of the National Cyber Security Agency in reviewing those programs and developing activities and services that contribute to achieving the desired goals.

In turn, Engineer Jassim Al-Muftah, Director of the Cyber Assurance Department at the National Cyber Security  Agency said that the National Cyber Security  Agency is working hard to raise the efficiency of service providers in the cyber security field through the Accreditation Program, which is one of the programs of the National Framework for Information Security Compliance.
He explained that this program is based on measuring the commitment of service providers to the quality and standards necessary to perform penetration testing including the efficiency of capabilities, the quality of procedures and the safety of services.

During the conference, the National Cyber Security Agency and Qatar Free Zones Authority signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at the  governance of companies that provide cyber security services in addition to signing a memorandum of understanding between the agency and Qatar Financial Center for the Governance of companies that provide cyber security services and regulate data privacy.

The conference hosted Mr. Lawrence Tai, Director of Regulatory Affairs at Singapore Cyber Security Agency, as a keynote speaker who reviewed Singapore experience in securing supply chain, shared lessons learned and success stories. It also included hosting keynote speakers from the Republic of Turkey and Germany to review experiences related to the examination of devices and applications.

The conference included a panel discussion on supply chain and cyber security service providers moderated by Engineer Noura Al-Abdulla, Director of Risk, Resilience and Crisis Management at the National Cyber Security Agency, with the participation of Engineer Dana Yousef Al-Abdullah, Director of Governance and National Cyber Security Affairs, Mr. Adel Darwish, Director of the Regional Office of the International Telecommunication Union for Arab States, Mr. Kay Nqambki, Cybersecurity Expert and Specialty Director in Digital Transformation at Carneby and Dr. Daniel Phelps from Carnegie Mellon University Qatar.

The conference also included two workshops entitled: The path to obtain  penetration testing certification in addition to a lecture delivered by Dr. Ashraf Ismail from the National Cyber Security Agency on Qatar's leadership in examining information technology security in the region.

The National Cyber Security Agency also organized a bilateral meeting with the Cybersecurity Agency in Singapore, during which ways of joint collaboration between both sides were discussed especially in the field of governance of cyber security supply chains.

The conference  was attended by around 280 corporate executives, assistant undersecretaries  and department directors in various ministries of the country as well as cyber security specialists and professionals.