Under the patronage of His Excellency the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, the National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA) organised the fifth National Cyber Governance and Assurance Affairs (NCGAA) conference Monday.
Held under the theme of Securing the Digital Future in an Era of Convergence, the event was attended by His Excellency the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed al-Mannai, and NCSA President Eng. Abdulrahman bin Ali al-Farahid al-Malki, alongside top officials and representatives of government entities and private firms in the nation.
The conference featured the launch of the national cybersecurity risk management framework and the institutional cybersecurity risk management framework, as well as the announcement of several high-impact initiatives reflecting strategic directions aimed at strengthening cybersecurity.
In his inaugural remarks, al-Malki stressed that securing the digital future has become a strategic responsibility that goes beyond protecting systems to encompass ensuring confidence, continuity and adaptability.
This action, he said, requires a proactive cybersecurity approach grounded in innovation, information and expertise interchange, strengthening national capacities, as well as public-private sector collaboration and persistently remaining focused on emerging threats.
Al-Malki added that a secure and enduring digital future can be built by virtue of achieving cyber resilience that substantially supports innovation and growth and maintains the trust of society and the economy in digital services and technologies.
The NCSA, he continued, has been working to strengthen national cyber resilience to ensure that it is capable of preempting sophisticated cyber threats, responding to them and healing from their impacts, with a particular emphasis on the continuity of services and critical infrastructure.
The director of National Cyber Governance and Assurance Affairs at the NCSA, Eng. Dana Yousef al-Abdulla, said that when people talk about securing the digital future, they are talking about one of the key enablers of Qatar’s development and transformation journey under Qatar National Vision 2030.
She asserted that cybersecurity today is not limited to protecting systems and data; it is also tied to service continuity, protecting infrastructure, supporting the digital economy and strengthening trust in the digital environment.
Al-Abdulla added that as the cyber challenges facing critical sectors continue to mount, it is no longer possible to address them in isolation. Instead, convergence among regulatory authorities, critical sectors and technology providers has become essential to strengthening cyber resilience readiness.
She unveiled a new collaboration with the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA), including the launch of a tailored compliance programme for entities regulated by the QFMA and the adoption of supplementary controls for the national cybersecurity standards, further strengthening the integration of cybersecurity and sectoral regulation.
Al-Abdulla also announced the launch of projects and initiatives aimed at advancing the cybersecurity landscape, including planning for the post-quantum era and examining a roadmap for implementing the Operational Technology Cybersecurity Assessment Programme developed by the International Society of Automation (ISA).
The programme, she noted, will play a role in strengthening the security of critical sectors, while also unlocking new economic opportunities for companies and cybersecurity service providers.
During the conference, several companies and enterprises that had obtained accreditation and compliance certifications under the National Information Assurance (NIA) standard, as well as the Qatar Common Criteria Scheme (QCCS), were honoured.
The conference also saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the NCSA and Crest International, aimed at strengthening co-operation, raising cybersecurity standards and achieving mutual recognition of requirements for accredited providers of penetration testing services.
The conference featured panel discussions and presentations involving a contingent of cybersecurity experts.
The first session focused on digital sovereignty in a convergent world: an outlook on future trends in achieving sovereignty, with the second session examining readiness for the post-quantum era: aligning governance, industry and assurance.
The third session was laser-focused on convergence in regulatory requirements, data governance, artificial intelligence (AI) and supply chains.
The fourth session drilled down on risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence in operational technology, while the sessions concluded with a presentation on who owns cybersecurity risk when everything is interconnected.
On the sidelines of the conference, four workshops were held on the national and institutional framework for information security risk management, opening new business opportunities and strengthening trust through penetration testing certification, the national information assurance standard certification for financial market participants, and the evolving landscape of data privacy, including trends, risks and challenges.
