iGA's CEO receives Japanese Government Advisor, shares experience in cybersecurity

Manama, Oct. 29 (BNA): Information and eGovernment Authority (iGA) Chief Executive, Mohammed Ali Al-Qaed met with Counsellor, Cabinet Secretariat and Director for International Strategy at the National Center of Incident Readiness and Strategy for Cybersecurity (NISC), Hidetoshi Ogawa at his office in Muharraq. They discussed ways of improving cooperation between iGA and NISC in areas related to the provision of information security services to government institutions. AlQaed welcomed Mr. Ogawa, praising his participation as a speaker in the Middle East Military Technology Conference (MEMTEC). He stressed the importance of the 2nd Bahrain International Defense Exhibition and Conference (BIDEC) in attracting global experts to help emphasize the Kingdom’s reputation in the adoption of modern technology and artificial intelligence, to serve and support service and military sectors, and implement cybersecurity strategies. They reviewed the experiences of each country in the field of cybersecurity. AlQaed shared the Kingdom's early recognition of the importance of cybersecurity in supporting and enhancing government IT security, in light of the country’s continuing development in the field. He said that Bahrain is a pioneer in the development of specialized cybersecurity programs, such as the cyber Trust program to enhance the level of security in government systems, and highlighted its efforts to increase cybersecurity risk awareness, and prepare and adopt security strategies as per the roadmap offered by the Supreme Committee for Information and Communications Technology, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Mubarak Al Khalifa. He stressed the attention given to Cyber Trust Programme by the Minister of Interior General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, which resulted in 40 government and semi-government bodies joining, including 25 which achieved various levels of security maturity. He highlighted the role of the iGA’s four functions, namely Operations and Governance; Digital Transformation; the Statistics and Population Register; and Information Security and Radiocommunication. Mr. Ogawa shared his country's experience, including its national cybersecurity structure, and the role it plays in supporting government institutions; the mechanism followed in monitoring and communication between the public and private sector; and its activities related to the exchange of information with other countries.