The Egyptian Computing Incident Response Team (EG-CIRT) and the Computing Incident Response Team for the Financial Sector (EG-FinCIRT) of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) have secured first places in the 12th Regional Cybersecurity Competition for Arab and member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), with participation from Asia-Pacific and African countries. The competition was organized by the Arab Regional Cybersecurity Center (ITU-ARCC), in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, under the theme "The Impact of Cyber Threats on the Digital Economy," with the participation of more than 600 members of incident response teams and National Cybersecurity Centers from Arab and Islamic countries participating in the competition. The activities and proposed scenarios focused on building the capabilities of response teams and enhancing communication among them to ensure an effective response to escalating cyber threats. The event also targeted information security centers in critical sectors to ensure the protection of data and digital services amid virtual attacks. Sherif Hazem, CBE's Sub-Governor for Cybersecurity, stated: "Cybersecurity issues have become a fundamental focus in safeguarding the national security across the globe, especially amid the intensified reliance on digital technologies. This necessitates the readiness of all states' entities, with the banking and financial institutions at the forefront, to mitigate cyberattacks and cyberwarfare. Undoubtedly, the Egyptian teams' remarkable achievements in the competition highlight Egypt's prospered trajectory towards strengthening its leading role in the field of cybersecurity, which bolsters the confidence in the country's digital economy, and empowers the attraction of foreign investments." Ibrahim Mostafa, the Assistant Sub-Governor of the CBE and Director of EG-FinCIRT, commented: "The CBE succeeded in establishing Egypt's first sectoral Computing Incident Response Team (EG-FinCIRT), qualifying promising calibers in the Cybersecurity field, investing in their long-term growth to build capacities of the banking sector and enable banks and financial institutions to develop and thrive in a stable and resilient banking ecosystem. This achievement is realized by efficiently handling the cybersecurity incidents and internet-related emergencies in the financial and banking sectors, through the early detection of security incidents to confront and mitigate their effects, as well as preventing their recurrence." During the competition, complex simulations of cyberattacks were conducted, testing the participants' ability to respond and apply professional methods to mitigate their effects. Noteworthy, the CBE's team attained the highest rankings in the specialized drills conducted, including, but not limited to, "Threat Hunting," "Ransomware Attack Defense," "SOC Analyst Challenge: Advanced Memory and Malware CTF," and the joint security maneuver for data breach incidents organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in Oman and the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) "FIRST-ITU Oman Data Breach CTF."
