The UAE’s cybersecurity head on adapting to digital warfare and the promise of AI – Monocle

The UAE’s cybersecurity head on adapting to digital warfare and the promise of AI  Monocle

Mohamed Al Kuwaiti recognises the dangers that AI poses in the sphere of cybersecurity. But its potential benefits, he argues,… Mohamed Al Kuwaiti recognises the dangers that AI poses in the sphere of cybersecurity. But its potential benefits, he argues, outweigh its risks. The machinery of everyday life attracts little attention until someone tries to disrupt or, indeed, destroy it. According to Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, the head of the UAE Cyber Security Council, Iran has targeted the UAE’s power grid and sought to wipe its digital records. At the Arab Media Summit in Dubai, he tells Monocle Radio how the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has overseen a digital offensive alongside missile and drone attacks.

As the conflict continues, he explains how his country’s defences are evolving and why confronting technology’s darker uses hasn’t dented his optimism about AI. Did anything about Iran’s cyberattacks on the UAE surprise you?We expected data leaks and spying on information; we expected theft, scams and attempts to steal data. But we didn’t anticipate someone attacking our power grid and trying to disrupt and destroy it, or targeting our database of digitised information and deleting everything. And we didn’t expect such things to happen so soon after the conflict began. We have learnt from this, which is why we are emerging more powerful.Were these cyberattacks happening