Cybersecurity Workshop for Investors

21/Oct/2019

The Ministry of Technology and Communications has organized a cybersecurity workshop for investors at the ministry headquarters. The workshop, targeting public and private investment organizations, aims to spread awareness on the recent World Economic Forum (WEF) report on “Incentivizing Responsible and Secure Innovation”, and to incentivize investors on prioritizing cybersecurity risks on their investment portfolio. This will help them ensure the security of their investment and maximize the return of investment because cybersecurity attacks cause huge financial losses on investments and well established organizations.

During the workshop, Eng. Badar Ali Al Salehi, the Director General of Oman National CERT at the Ministry of Technology and Communications, and the head of the ITU- Arab Regional cybersecurity center, gave a presentation on Global and National trends in cybersecurity, and highlighted Oman’s cybersecurity overview. He also took the participants through the WEF report and the basic principles of cybersecurity that the investors can incorporate throughout their investment journey. Eng. Al Salehi also presented the Cybersecurity Due Diligence Framework, and the assessment methodology by the WEF guiding investors to assess cybersecurity during the investment journey. Members of investment agencies in the private and public sectors attended the workshop.

The World Economic forum (WEF) was founded in 1971, as an international non-profit and non-governmental organization, and it currently focuses on three major agendas including the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4-IR) and security issues. The WEF’s Center for cybersecurity has recently published a report outlining new cybersecurity principles for the investment community, which emphasized the importance of understanding the impact of cyber threats on long-term market valuation. The Sultanate signed an agreement on cybersecurity cooperation with the WEF last December to explore opportunities for building a collaboration between them towards promoting cybersecurity, increasing cyber capacities and identifying potential cooperation in projects and initiatives to mitigate cyber threats.