Excellencies,
Distinguished Participants,
Dear Guests,
It gives me great pleasure to open the very first physical Global CyberDrill organized by the International Telecommunication Union!
Allow me at the onset, to thank and congratulate H.E., Dr Al Kuwaiti, and the United Arab Emirates Cyber Security Council for graciously hosting this first ever physical Global CyberDrill! I must thank you for your generosity in sponsoring participants from 100 countries and making this event possible.
This event, your support, and our partnership are in line with two out of the five key ITU Development Sector priorities adopted by the World Telecommunication Development Conference held in Kigali, Rwanda in 2022 namely, inclusive, and secure telecommunications for sustainable development i.e. cybersecurity, and resource mobilization through international cooperation.
A warm welcome to all distinguished delegates who have gathered here today. Your contribution to the success of this forum will go a long way towards enhancing our collective cyber resilience!
The event before us, marks a very special occasion as it also marks the opening of the 13th Gulf Information Security Expo & Conference (GISEC) – the largest cybersecurity event in the Middle East and Africa. Congratulations, Your Excellence, Dr. Al Kuwaiti, and the Government of the United Arab Emirates. I have just been on a tour of the expo, and I am very impressed with the over 750 cybersecurity brands! I also hear that over 20,000 participants from more than 130 countries are expected! This is the Olympics of the cybersecurity community worldwide and a rallying point for influential leaders from the cybersecurity ecosystem!
I would like to also express my thanks and appreciation to the rest of our partners that include Interpol, UN Counter Terrorism Centre, and Cyber Ranges, who will deliver the technical scenarios for the drill exercises and share their experiences and good practice approaches. I extend my very warm welcome to all the participants at GISEC!
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The world is getting more and more connected every day, although we still have 2.6 billion people who remain offline. For those online, this day represents a giant leap in the right direction in terms of practical collaboration and international cooperation with 100 countries coming together for a cyber drill. It will go a long way in enhancing our coordinated response to global cybersecurity challenges.
This collective effort contributes to global confidence building and trust. Together, we can collaboratively address cybersecurity challenges across boundaries and safeguardour digital future.
Distinguished ladies and gentlemen,
This Cyberdrill event is neither the first nor a one-off event. As you may already know, ITU has a strong track record of conducting successful CyberDrills across all the six ITU regions. We have held over 40 exercises involving more than 140 countries. We organized the first CyberDrill in Southeast Asia in 2011. Since then, we have been annually organizing regional and interregional CyberDrills in different countries worldwide.
I am proud to say that last year, during the Arab-CIS interregional CyberDrill, together with CSC we broke five Guinness records, with over 500 participants from over 30 countries! That demonstrates the power of partnerships.
Distinguished Participants,
ITU recognizes the importance of effective incident response in the face of escalating cyber vulnerabilities. As the leading UN Agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), we are uniquely positioned to bring together the global technical community to address these challenges head-on.
Today's Global CyberDrill is an outstanding example of the ITU's unique approach to cyber capacity-building in incident response. The CyberDrill exercises on Day 2 and 3 will equip participants with information on various scenarios involving emerging types of cyberattacks, offer valuable hands-on experience and cross-learning, and improve countries' incident response readiness.
We often hear that cyberspace knows no borders. I agree. I therefore firmly believe that we should share our learning and knowledge transcending borders, so that we may together, more effectively confront cybersecurity challenges.
Building the capacity of governments and people is instrumental to creating long-lasting impact on the ground, and to securing global safety.
It is for this reason, that we are continuously working, side by side, shoulder to shoulder with you, to create a safer world. Shared exercises such as this Global Cyber Drill strengthen the joint effort, hone skills, promote knowledge sharing, and foster a global culture of cybersecurity preparedness and response.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Against this backdrop of collaboration amidst an increasingly interconnected digital world and economy, it is important to have harmonized regulatory frameworks. I therefore take this opportunity to invite you to the Global Symposium of Regulators, taking place in Kampala, Uganda, from July 1st to 4th – where representatives from telecommunications regulators, non-telecommunications sector regulators, ICT Ministers, and captains of industry from around the globe will meet, debate, and exchange on the multifaceted regulatory challenges and opportunities of our digital age. Do not miss this great opportunity.
This year, the GSR with the theme, “Regulating for Impact" will also have a core-GSR session on digital regulation for Artificial Intelligence, and an AI side event /exhibition on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in Action, where I would like to invite you to identify and include young innovators in your delegation, so that they may be able to showcase their skills on robotics.
But skills and innovation are essential elements that we should embrace if we are to succeed in this era. I would like to therefore invite you to two of our flagship events:
o The Global Digital Skills Forum to be held in Bahrain this September; and the
o Global Innovation Forum in to be held in October with the venue yet to be announced.
Finally, ITU is unique in that, besides having 193 Member States, we also have over 1000 private sector, industry, and academia as our members. I would like to invite those that are not yet members to join us. We value industry and have done tremendous things with them to have a positive impact on the people. The ITU Development Sector invites you to join and participate in our research work, projects, and application of appropriate technologies to address today's and tomorrow's challenges. Be part of our mission to achieve affordable meaningful connectivity and sustainable secure digital transformation. One concrete and related way we are working with industry is through a jointly resourced project on Cyber for Good. You are welcome to join us.
This is an impactful project that aims to bridge the cybersecurity capacity gap in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) which draws from private sector experience, expertise, services, tools, and solutions. Currently, 23 LDCs are benefiting from the invaluable support from 5 private sector members.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me conclude by extending my best wishes to all the participants in the upcoming global and historic CyberDrill competition. I am confident that you will find this three-day journey invaluable, awestriking, and memorable.
I wish you all a learning Forum, exciting Cyberdrill and a great Exposition!
