Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani speaking at 4th Conference of Information Security in the Financial Institutions organised by Qatar Central Bank, at Sheraton Doha Hotel, yesterday.
Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani has said that Qatar works in full coordination with all regional and international institutions and organisations to unify policies and to promote and protect efforts for protecting information security.
“In this context several committees have been formed at the level of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to link and develop payment and settlement systems and to enhance information security and protection, in addition to coordination in the field of supervision and control,” he said while speaking at 4th Conference of Information Security in the Financial Institutions under the title “cyber-hacking and its impact on the economy,” organised by Qatar Central Bank (QCB), at Sheraton Doha Hotel yesterday.
“Coordination is also being undertaken at the international level to enhance information security, particularly in the financial sector, and to benefit from international expertise and experience in this field,” the Prime Minister said.
The event was attended by a number of Their Excellencies the Sheikhs and Ministers, and a number of Their Excellencies the Ambassadors accredited to the State of Qatar. The Prime Minister warned of the dangers related to information security, especially those related to cyber crimes which has spread and affected developed countries and major companies.
The Prime Minister referred to the terrible hack that targeted the Qatar News Agency (QNA) website last May through different, fabricated and false attributing statements for H H the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in attempt to harm the State of Qatar and escalate the current crisis by the siege countries.
He said the concept of information security has massively changed with the role of information developing, where is has become an important factor for all the countries’ components the governmental and non -governmental.
The Prime Minister stressed on the need to intensify the local, regional and international efforts to find the best ways to protect information security and lessen the dangers surrounding it.
The Prime Minister said effective protection will not be achieved unless joint cooperation between all parties is established locally, regionally and internationally, in addition to setting strategies based on basic substrates of defence, deterrence and development.
Prime Minister & Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani at the 4th conference of Information Security in the Financial Institutions. The event was attended by a number of Their Excellencies Sheikhs and Ministers, and a number of Their Excellencies Ambassadors accredited to the State of Qatar.
The Prime Minister added that the large development witnessed by information technology in the past years, has had positive and vital changes in the global economy especially with diversifying it and turning it into knowledge economy. “However, despite these great advantages of the rapid development of information technology, it has come with a number of dangers such as cyber crimes which has spread and remains to be widely spread,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister said in 2015, cyber crimes around the world resulted in a yearly loss of almost $500bn, adding the media reports reveal daily of the continuity of cyber attacks and the volume of threat and danger the world faces.
He said that it is enough to look at the attacks that took place in different countries around the world and resulted in the closure of many industrial facilities, where the experts expect the losses of cyber crimes to reach more than $2 trillion globally by 2019.
The Prime Minister said that Qatar, in order to protect and achieve comprehensive national security in accordance with the directives of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has attached great importance to this matter, by taking all measures, procedures and plans to ensure the protection of the security of national information by protecting the infrastructure of classified information from hacking and theft.
The Prime Minister pointed out to the formation of a high committee to prepare policies and programs. The membership of the committee includes representatives from all sectors in the country, and it has sub-committees for each sector. “Coordination is held at the highest level between all committees and the Supreme Committee in order to achieve the desired objectives to ensure the achievement of information security,” he added.
The Prime Minister said that the State of Qatar seeks to create an environment conducive to investments in all fields in order to diversify the economy and achieve economic development, which is one of the most important pillars of Qatar National Vision 2030.
