The Cyber ​​World Championship was an opportunity to showcase the success of the Abraham Accords

by time news

The Cyber ​​Nations Championship, held last week at Burj Khalifa in Dubai, was an opportunity to present the success of the Abraham Accords and the changes the Middle East is undergoing and to illustrate the importance of technological advancement, with an emphasis on the cyber threat, as a force that promotes cooperation between countries.

The competition was led by Doron Amir, CEO of the cyber company CyTaka and initiator of the “Cyber ​​Best” program, in collaboration with government officials in the United Arab Emirates. 100 participants from 24 different countries took part in the championship, such as Malaysia, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Dubai, Israel, the United The Emirates and more. The first stages of the competition began with the CyTaka application. Among the 100 competitors in the championship was Israel’s Tzach Fahima, who won the Cyber ​​Championship for the North of CyTaka, which was held in Kiryat Shmona, and the Israel Championship which was held in Tel Aviv.

As part of the competition, the hackers faced various cyber challenges that countries and organizations face today in ransom attacks on hospitals, banking and finance, autonomous cars and the world of aviation. The first place prize, worth $100,000, was awarded to Sam Lee from Malaysia, who currently lives in New York, where he works as a security engineer at Amazon.

Second place was won by Sachin Kamath from India ($10,000), and third place was won by Abdul Wahab Al Gami from the United Arab Emirates ($5,000). All the winners of the first ten places secured their place to participate in the finals of the World Cyber ​​Championship to be held in March in Dubai, at the annual cyber conference in Dubai GISEC Global, where the world cyber champion will be announced and will win a prize of one million dollars.

In the event that took place in the tallest tower in the world, the senior officials of Israel’s defense and cyber system took part: former head of the Mossad Major General (ret.) Danny Yatom, former head of the cyber system Yigal Ona, former deputy head of the Shin Bet Yair (Roli) Sagi, the Consul General in Dubai Liron Zaslansky, Ambassador Israel in the Emirates Amir Hayek, Vitali Prilog, a former Interpol executive and member of the CyTaka advisory committee, etc. At the end of the event, a rare audio-visual show took place that was projected on the Burj Khalifa tower – a video illustrating the cooperation between CyTaka and the United Arab Emirates.

“The cooperation with the Emirati government is a realization of the Abrahamic agreements and an expression of trust, support and a shared vision of a positive cyber against all threats in the field,” said Emir at the end of the event, “mobilizing all the hackers all over the world together with cyber programmers who help to strengthen the manpower in the field Cyber ​​and security together allow us to raise security issues and defense improvements by participating in the cyber championships on an international stage.”

The cyber world, with an emphasis on attack and defense, is fundamentally different from any other military field, mainly due to the fact that its fighters do not have to wear uniforms, be in combat fitness, and the issue of gender and age is not important either – on the offensive side can sit a man in his 60s or a 14-year-old girl In the virtual world, the brain is the main muscle that is important to train and strengthen.

Saitka (Photo: Yossi Aloni)

“demonstrate skills”

“Cyber ​​is an anonymous enemy that attacks, admittedly on a nationalistic basis, but also on an economic and sometimes casual basis,” Doron emphasizes, “this thing has made the world more frightening. But where you meet fear, you will find freedom fighters and vision. The change begins with defining another layer of cyber , which is neither military nor governmental. Civil cyber comes and says: we also know cyber, know how to show security weaknesses.”

“This instinct to explore is found mainly in people who like to learn, that motivation and perseverance meet in one place, so what’s better than coming to a place where you can prove your cyber skills. It’s not just for professionals and experts – it’s for citizens, people who want and can learn, they come here to to prove skills and get a rating. They come to competitions and prove that they are at a certain level and suddenly they are drawn into the world of cyber security, and the talented ones discover that they can be hackers. They just need an opportunity to prove, and there is nothing better than encouraging, especially the younger generation, that they are capable of this.”

The event was also attended by Dr. Mohammed Al Kuwaiti, head of the Emirates’ cyber system. “This is a unique and amazing event that reflects the common interests of the two countries,” said Dr. Al Kuwaiti, “two years ago such events could not take place, today we are working together on A common goal of protection against cyber attacks. We need to develop these skills and need more cyber people, and a championship like this one by CyTaka leads to the development of the field.”

The former head of the Mossad, Danny Yatom, also referred to the competition and the strengthening of relations between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East. “The relationship between Israel and the Emirates, not only in this area, is exceptional,” he said, “this is something that a year and a half ago no one would have imagined, this level of intimacy. There are many reasons for this, mainly shared interests in the security field, but also In the civilian field. Israel must be at the forefront of defensive cyber technology. As a country that is frequently attacked by its enemies, a company like Saitaka, which brings an innovative model that both produces knowledge sharing and develops defensive tools, is at the forefront of the next war in the cyber arena.”

Yigal Ona, the former head of the cyber system, said at the event that “Israel is frequently targeted by countries and organizations as a target for cyber attacks. It is impossible to defeat cyber alone. Only through international sharing of knowledge, security, experience and technology can we defeat the attackers together.”

Saitaka is an Israeli cyber unicorn company that promotes positive cyber and has already held cyber championships in New York, Dubai, Sde Boker, Kiryat Ata, Kiryat Shmona and more. Amir, the founder of “Hatobim le Cyber” and CEO of Saitaka, leads cyber championships all over the world and promotes his vision of instilling cyber education values ​​among diverse populations in Israel and around the world.

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