National cyber drill is on

The National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) is organising the 10th edition of the National Cyber Drill under the theme Secure Your Data, with the participation of nearly 170 vital entities in the country.
It will run until November 29.
The drill is aimed at assessing the readiness of vital entities, their response mechanisms to breaches, and to measure the efficiency of preparedness to combat cyber risks from the perspective of the triple aspect of cyber security readiness, encompassing the human element, technological elements, and operations.
This falls within the NCSA’s endeavour to enhance the capabilities of various vital entities, elevating their cyber efficiency through educational and awareness aspects as well as identifying and fortifying weaknesses.
National Cyber Empowerment and Excellence Affairs director Khaled al-Hashemi highlighted the uniqueness of this edition of the drill, featuring separate scenarios for administrators and technicians, which he said facilitates evaluating the cyber security readiness of entities administratively and technically.
He emphasised that conducting the annual cyber drill reflects the agency’s commitment to supporting and enhancing the cyber capabilities of vital entities in the country, contributing effectively to boosting their preparedness against intrusion attempts.
National Cyber Initiatives Assurance Department head Mohamed Murshid al-Mannai stressed that the drill and their essential exercises are an important administrative tool, as they aim to identify and improve gaps, as well assess the effectiveness of response and recovery strategies to minimise the impact on national cyber stability, society, and the economy.
The drill aligns with the NCSA’s efforts to raise awareness among participating institutions on this year’s theme, data security.
It aims to reinforce entities’ compliance with laws pertaining to data privacy and classification and ensures their implementation in practical contexts.
Highlighting the importance of the cyber drill from various angles, especially in verifying an entity’s or institution’s capability to protect its assets from breaches and assessing the alignment of its procedures in dealing with intrusions, this year’s drill will contribute to identifying both administrative and technical weaknesses within participating vital entities.