Oman holds cybersecurity drill

The Information Technology Authority (ITA), represented by Oman Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT), completed a drill to evaluate readiness for cybersecurity incidents on December 25.  A hundred and twenty participants from various public and infrastructure agencies in the Sultanate were involved, the Oman News Agency reported.

Badr bin Ali al-Salhi, Director General of the National CERT said that the aim of the drill was to enhance cooperation between Oman CERT, public and private organisations to address cybersecurity incidents. He said that Oman OCERT has addressed more than 2,000 cybersecurity incidents over the past three years, including over 80,000 attempts to illegally access Omani websites and more than 8,000 attempts to install malware.

The OCERT reported that the Sultanate has been ranked third in the Global Cybersecurity Index 2014 in the same month, behind the US and Canada. The ranking, by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and ABI Research,  was shared at the ITU Telecom World 2014 in Qatar.

Source: OCERT.

Three countries shared third place – Oman, Australia and Malaysia – while New Zealand and Norway were placed fourth. Brazil, Estonia, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom were all joint fifth.

The Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) is an ITU-ABI research joint project to rank the cybersecurity capabilities of nation states. The ranking included analyses in five categories: legal measures, technical measures, organisational measures, capacity building and cooperation.