University students compete in a contest to raise awareness of information security threats

Organized by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, students from Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi University, Al Ain University, Ras al Khaimah University and Rochester Institute of Technology participated in a State-level competition on "Strengthening Information Security Awareness", among the many promotional activities carried out by the Authority during its participation in the Big Entertainment Show in the Emirate of Dubai, which was held under the patronage of the Authority and with the support of the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and Dubai Festivals & Retail Establishment (DFRE) - Modhesh World and the International Licensing Industry Merchandisers Association.

The competition was between teams of students in a mind race to develop an application addressed to children aged eight to 12 years, and aims to increase public awareness of these young people to information security threats that may arise during the use of their computers, and while connected to the Internet, as well as providing this application for use within the events of the computer emergency response team in the State to spread a culture of safe electronics, and as part of the awareness training courses offered by the group, as the wining applicable will be provided by the e-Government website for free download.

The UAE has paid special attention to cyber security and held the first place in the GCC countries and the fourth globally in 2012, according to the report by the International Institute for Management Development, Switzerland, which showed that the UAE jumped in the rankings from the 35^th place globally in 2011 to the 4^th place. The recently released report by “Frost & Sullivan”, that spending on security services in the UAE is expected to reach 1.7 billion Dirhams (equivalent to 473 million Dollars) by the year 2018 with a growth rate of 17 percent. The Gulf Information Security Expo and Conference, which took place last June at the Dubai World Trade Centre, highlighted the growing importance of information security as a vital requirement for government institutions and companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, where they began to adopt the latest information security technologies prominently.