Agencies within the Egyptian government are working together to prepare for upcoming cyberattacks, as Egypt has been listed among the 20 countries in the world most susceptible to cyberattacks, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA).

A discussion on the value of cyber security in assisting Egypt’s strategy and vision for digital transformation 2030 was also conducted by the IT solutions provider Digital Planets on the sidelines of its fourth annual Security Day conference.

After the 2008 internet outage incident in Egypt, which led to the establishment of the Egyptian Computer Emergency Readiness Team (EG-CERT) in 2009, Ahmed Ali, vice president of the NTRA for Cybersecurity Affairs, said that Egypt had realized the necessity of having a center to receive and monitor internet emergencies in 2008. 

“We plan to train all employees transferred to the new administrative capital, in addition to the center’s role in analyzing digital evidence commissioned by the prosecution and judiciary. We have experts trained to extract digital evidence from electronic devices of all kinds,” Ali added.

Owing to the shortage of qualified cybersecurity experts, Ali said, NTRA is building two excellence centers at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport and El Alamein through the EG-CERT to certify human resources in the sector.

Additionally, the Information Technology Institute (ITI) offers cybersecurity training programs through EG-CERT; there will also be collaborations with Egyptian universities. “We are cooperating with several large countries and companies around the world in the field of cybersecurity,” Ali added.

In light of digital transformation’s implementation, NTRA is also creating broad policies for private firms to implement cybersecurity standards. New legal frameworks are being established for technologies like 5G, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence.