The Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC) has launched a new cybersecurity platform, known as ‘TIRS’, which translates to ‘Shield’ in English, at GISEC 2021.
Speaking at the Government Stage during the event, Ghaith Alsuwaidi, Deputy Director, Security Systems for DESC, unveiled the new platform which, designed entirely by a team of UAE nationals, scans Dubai government websites to detect vulnerabilities within departments, delivers top line data and issues a safety score out of five.
The platform also creates a threat report to inform participating entities on critical weaknesses, enabling them to take appropriate action to resolve any security gaps. Once the threat is identified and dealt with, DESC will confirm the action taken within the TIRS system.
“TIRS is one of the key pillars monitoring Dubai’s cyberspace, through the Dubai Cyber Index Platform. We continuously scan government websites and based on the security of the government entities we give them a score out of five. It ensures the security of government websites and introduces competitiveness in terms of website security, all the time making Dubai’s cyberspace safer,” said Alsuwaidi, adding that the TIRS scoring will be a parameter on the Dubai Cyber Index by the end of this year.
Meanwhile, Dr. Marwan Al-Zarouni, Director, Information Security Services, Dubai Electronic Security Centre (DESC), stressed that Dubai’s agility, emphasised by the launch of the TIRS platform, will enable Dubai to remain ahead of the curve in protecting its cyberspace.
“In Dubai we are not isolated from the world when it comes to regulation, and we participate in global programmes and contribute to policy making. We are one of the first cities to mandate that all cloud providers to any government bodies need to be compliant to our security standards,” said Al-Zarouni. “Being agile enough to change and create policy quickly to match new threats and trends is a key strength for us.”
