Two global initiatives announced at Saudi cyber forum
James Thorpe
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During the Global Cybersecurity Forum, the Governor of Riyadh Region Prince Faisal bin Bandar, announced two global initiatives to boost cybersecurity sponsored by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The first is the Crown Prince’s international initiative to protect children in cyberspace and the second is the Crown Prince’s initiative to empower women in the cybersecurity sector.
The first initiative revolves around the development of best practices, policies and programs to protect children in cyberspace. This initiative comes as a response to counter the growing cyber threats that target children while they are online and expose them to various cybercrimes, out of the sight of their families. This includes exploiting them, making them victims of abuse and committing crimes against them, as well as influencing and pushing them to adopt extremist and terrorist ideologies that pose a danger to countries and societies. These crimes against children also include cyber bullying, identity theft and online fraud.
One of the main goals of the initiative is to develop programs and build global partnerships to promote the achievements of the desired goals globally and drive the adoption by teachers, families and other decision makers of best practices to protect children in cyberspace.
Commenting on the initiative, the Governor of the National Cybersecurity Authority, His Excellency Dr. Khalid Alsabti, said: “Considering the steady growth in the cybersecurity capabilities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, we must utilise our expertise to benefit the global community and to set up the appropriate standards, procedures and awareness campaigns to protect children in cyberspace. According to the latest studies, we see an increase in cyber threats, a rise in crimes against children and increasing numbers of victims of exploitation, extortion, fraud and radicalisation on the internet.
“Therefore, there is an urgent need for the international community to view this initiative as a very important positive step that requires deeper cooperation, solidarity and joint action to achieve its goals.”
The second initiative is empowering women in cybersecurity. It calls for stepping up efforts to encourage and support women in cybersecurity and enabling them to obtain the education and qualification necessary to allow them to participate effectively in building the cybersecurity sector and to assume leadership positions within it.
Programs to enhance the role and empowerment of women in cybersecurity will be of great importance and represent a major boost to the quality and diversity of skills in cybersecurity and contribute to addressing the shortage of skills and talents in cybersecurity internationally.
