Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Yasser El-Kady, chaired Monday a session on data privacy and political frameworks to ensure technological services in cyberspace during the Fifth Regional Cybersecurity Summit. The event was held on October 30- November 1, hosted by Egypt in Sharm El-Sheikh and organised by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regional Cybersecurity Centre (RCC). During his speech, El-Kady stated that cyber attacks pose as grave a threat as terrorism, which requires coordinated efforts to confront it. The state pays great attention to cybersecurity, with the great development achieved in the ICT field. The ICT Minister referred also to the development that Egypt witnesses at the legislative level in the electronic field where there is the law of electronic signature and Informatics crime, and another law on cybersecurity that will be presented to the Parliament in its current session. He emphasised the political will that supports the information security in Egypt and pointed to issuing a decree by the Prime Minister to form a supreme council of cyber-security. He also underlined the need for practical technical training on how to deal with cyberattacks, and that the training will begin Thursday in cooperation with the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST), one of the largest specialized organisations in the field of information security at the international level. The Minister also underlined the significance of helping states and institutions to secure data and information, referring to the daily growing challenges relevant to security and privacy, especially with the rapid development of this technology in all sectors. He also highlighted the significance of having protection schemes for all systems and hardware programmes when establishing smart cities, regions and communities. During the closing session of the conference, El-Kady underlined the significance of regional and international cooperation in the field of cyber security, and coordination on major issues. He referred to the efforts exerted by the government to invest in securing information and data networks in all sectors of the state and that Egypt has a specialised centre for protection and response, implementing programs that aim to develop calibres in the technology field. The conference brings together more than 300 senior experts and specialists in the field of Cyber Security in the Arab and African region and those interested in discussing prevailing trends and future issues facing the regional and global information security sector.
