Oman and the Gulf Cooperation Council states have invested significantly in cybersecurity and have made large strides in protecting governments, businesses and individuals from cyberthreats, with the aim of delivering on their ambitious national strategies and future visions. However, several challenges to cybersecurity and cyber resilience in the region persist, putting those ambitious plans at risk. 

These challenges would be the topic of discussion at the ‘Working Towards Cyber Resilience in the GCC: Opportunities and Challenges’ event to be held in Muscat on March 12. The workshop will be held in collaboration with the Arab Regional Cybersecurity Centre (ARCC) and Oman CERT. 

The GCC states have invested significantly in cybersecurity and have made large strides in protecting governments, businesses and individuals from cyberthreats, with the aim of delivering on their ambitious national strategies and future visions. However, several challenges to cybersecurity and cyber resilience in the region persist, putting those ambitious plans at risk, stated the organiser of the event, Chatam House, the world-leading policy institute. 

‘These challenges include the uneven nature of cybersecurity protections, the incomplete implementation of cybersecurity strategies and regulations, and the issues around international cooperation. Such challenges mean that GCC states need to focus on the more difficult task of cyber resilience, in addition to the simpler initial stages of cybersecurity capacity-building, to ensure they harness the true potential of digital technologies and mitigate associated threats.’ 

Set against this background, the workshop will explore opportunities and challenges to cyber resilience in the GCC focusing on four main pillars – Cyber resilience: in concept and in practice, building an effective cybersecurity capacity, the potential of regional and international cooperation to cyber resilience, deterrence and disruption: different approaches.