A Framework for Effectiveness of Cyber Security Defenses, a case of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Abstract

Cyberspace has become the new frontier for countries to demonstrate power. Nations that have developed defense tools or those that can successfully launch attacks against adversaries will become the next global superpowers (1), (2). While cyber threats and attacks by government agencies are well documented, most of the widespread attacks are done by individuals or various hacking groups for personal gains (3). The UAE has become a major target for cyber conflicts due to increased economic activity, tourism, technology and the rise of oil and gas industry. Furthermore, the wide spread of internet in the region to the tune of 88% in 2014 has exposed it to attackers (3), (4). Recent attacks against Saudi Arabia's ARAMCO and Qatar RasGas, the Stuxnet attack on the Iranian nuclear plants are often cited as examples (4), (5). However, in the digital arena no space is out of control by the law, therefore, it is important to guarantee democratic principles in this domain. The fundamental drivers to the cyber security market are geared towards increasing the digital risk from cyber users by creating greater vulnerabilities because of more pervasive utilization of engineering and cloud computing platforms. Previous reports show that the UAE Government is set to double expenditure on homeland security (6). Consequently, we need to assess whether existing cyber-security defenses are effective and guarantee comprehensive cybersecurity strategies that would uphold the highest security standards in line with the vision 2030. In this paper, a critical review of the existing cyber security mechanisms has been done and a framework for effective management of cyber security threats proposed for the UAE government agencies.