Al Mansoori: Increasing the Efficiency of Work Teams is a key priority
Abu Dhabi: At Shangri-la hotel, Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) held this morning, September 15th, a training workshop for "Information Security Planning" in which 21 governmental bodies participated. The workshop aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge of the importance of information security planning, using a group of tools and guidelines that would help each individual entity adopt the program and customize it to fit its needs, and coordinate jointly in securing governmental information, for more efficient risk response, that cope with harm, of whatever size, caused by information loss, abuse, or unauthorized access.
"The Abu Dhabi e-Government program focuses highly and primarily on the constant improvement of the quality and efficiency of public services provision, towards the realization of the vision of the Emirate to be among top five governments in the world," HE Rashed Al Mansoori, Director General of ADSIC, said. "The progress of this program, however, comprises certain informational risks; as more users, whether intentionally or circumstantially, are given access to critically sensitive information, resulting in grave IT threats. That's why Abu Dhabi Government laid down a comprehensive public Information Security Program, where requirements are defined and documented in a way that allows for strong capacity building in Information Security (IS), and ADSIC was chosen to be its governing body responsible for setting required standards and guidelines, providing training, and coordinating with relevant entities, contractors, and individuals.'
Minimizing Risks
"The Information Security Standards aim at protecting governmental information from a wide range of threats, by maintaining its confidentiality, integrity, and availability," as Dr. Maher Ali Nayfeh, Director of Technology and Standards Department and Chief Architect at Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre, points out. "The efficient application of these standards will maintain the operation and expansion of sensitive e-services, in a seamless manner with other public services. So, any IT system, still in its operation and deployment phase, will have to abide by and implement these standards so as to gain full Certification and Accreditation from the Information Security Program.' Nayfeh added that 'governmental information shall be secured once they are produced or acquired, by adopting and integrating IS procedures starting from the system planning phase, so as to build efficiently well-designed protection systems before operation. This, in turn, will reduce risks and prove to be cost effective on the long run.'
Quality and Training
On the other hand, Mr. Mohamed Hussein Karmastaji, the Information Security Program Manager, said that 35 governmental entities have been provided with a clear set of goals and responsibilities to accomplish Abu Dhabi Information Security requirements at the beginning of 2010. The aim of providing such set was to enable the Abu Dhabi government entities to apply the Information Security Policy and standards locally. The Information Security team has also provided necessary guidelines and training for staff, including the workshop held, which aims at informing information security governmental employees of procedures on how to reduce the risks accompanying their activities, ultimately ensuring Government Information Security staff are adequately trained and qualified for receiving Information Security assignments.
"The workshop tackled three main topics," he added. "The first is entitled " Information Security Planning," providing a lecture on how to define services and classify Information, followed by practical training for information security officers at Abu Dhabi Governmental bodies, to help them define "the scope of work for information security implementation" and "the Information Security Plan." The second topic is about "Risk Assessment", in which the assessment methodology was discussed, with practical training on how to assess information security risks against governmental information systems. Finally, the third topic tackles "Risk Treatment", with an introduction for creating "Risk Treatment Plan," and training is given on how to implement such plan, and how to determine effective actions to treat of identified risks."
-Ends-
About Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre:
The Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre (ADSIC) was created as a Committee in October 2005 by Executive Council Decree No. 33, and later was changed to be a Centre in 2008 by Law No. 18, decreed by HH. Sheikh Khalifa bin Sultan Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, and Ruler of Abu Dhabi. The role of ADSIC is to develop and support the initiatives towards the e-transformation of public services in the Emirate. A key objective of this e-transformation is to establish a modern, efficient, and citizen-centric e-Government platform that match the best in the world.
The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre Mandate
The Centre is the governmental body in charge of the IT agenda in the Emirate, and has the authority to practice the following competences:
- Supervise the implementation of the e-Government program in Abu Dhabi Government entities.
- Sponsor initiatives and mature assets and competencies that it deems of critical importance for the e-Government project.
- Propose policies and technology standards for government and relevant entities to achieve a comprehensive quality in reaching the highest levels of efficiency, confidentiality, and safety in the e-Government project.
- Issue rules and guidelines regarding the implementation of IT policies and the technical specifications, and communicate them to all the Government entities.
- Submit the guidelines to the Council regarding the IT sector and the e-Government.
For further information, please contact:
Batool Al Hussainy
Director of Corporate Public Relations
Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Centre
P.O. 3133
Tel.: + 971 2 696 1660
Fax: + 971 2 671 7333
E-mail: pr@adsic.abudhabi.ae
© Press Release 2010
