ABU DHABI - The United Arab Emirates Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) will soon open another threat intelligence operations centre (Tioc) in Abu Dhabi to consolidate cyber security.

‘The new datacentre coming up in Abu Dhabi will be completely automated making us more active as a Cert,’ said Tariq Abdulghaffar Mohammad Al Hawi, aeCERT Director in an interview with a local daily.

The aeCERT is the cyber security co-ordination centre in the UAE, established by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) as an initiative to detect, prevent and respond to cyber security incidents on the internet.

Mohammad Al Hawi, told Emirates Business that ‘aeCERT was set up in 2007 and has completed the first two phases of operations. We have 25 constituents signed up for security services in four to six months. These constituents consist of customers from the public, private and academic sectors.’

The paper says that presently aeCERT operates in Dubai from Emaar Business Park with its own Tioc and datacentre.

Next year it plans to have its own building in Dubai and simultaneously open another data centre and Tioc in Abu Dhabi.

aeCERT will also launch its third phase of operations, which will see more interaction from its mascot ‘Salim’, said Al Hawi.

‘Salim was launched keeping in mind an Arab geek who is interested in technology and would become a brand ambassador. aeCERT will also become 24/7 with the launch of an additional data centre in Abu Dhabi after Dubai. The data centre will help beef up operations and responses to consumers.’

The computer response team has also dedicated teams doing individual tasks.

‘We have a team doing research and analysis and we also don’t allow anybody to run anything for us. aeCERT makes sure all engineers we have are UAE nationals,’ said Al Hawi.

According to the paper there are also two other Certs in the region in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but Al Hawi said the UAE is the most advanced in the region.

‘The UAE outfit is connected to all global Certs. The new datacentre coming up in Abu Dhabi will be completely automated making us more active as a Cert’.