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The Information Technology Authority (ITA) continues to support the Omani competencies specialized in cybersecurity and all those who have the skills in ethical hacking with the ability to identify and tackle security vulnerabilities.
Eng. Bader bin Ali Al Salehi, Director General of the Oman Computer Emergency Readiness Team (OCERT), elaborated on the ITA’s role in this area “We are keen in supporting the Omani capabilities in ethical hacking and they definitely contribute to achieving the e.oman strategy and supporting the community for better. ITA provides training programs and specialized competitions to those talents to guide and monitor them to improve their exceptional skills and obtain job opportunities in government and private sectors or to be an SME in the field.”
OCERT ambassadors
The ITA launched a number of initiatives and programs to nurture and guide these talents to use their skills in various IT areas. In the field of information security, the ITA launched in 2011 the OCERT ambassadors program, which is a platform consisting of specialists, academics, experts, researchers and those interested in ICT field. Al Salehi added: “Up to date, we have 649 ambassadors, including 170 specialists, 304 academics, and 175 general ambassadors. We contact them on an ongoing basis in everything related to awareness and research on information security. They are also involved in conferences and training courses specialized in ICT in general and in the field of information security in particular. The members serve as ambassadors in sharing their knowledge to the community.”
Specialized Competitions
Challenges and competitions plays major change in enhancing the skills; thus, ITA organizes a number of specialized competitions with suitable environment for exchanging experiences among participants and from the jury and expert recommendation. Some of the competitions organized by ITA include:
- “Discover Me” competition, an educational competition organized in 2015 with the participation of more than 600 specialists. It aimed to look for outstanding human skills in the field of discovering security vulnerabilities.
- “Oman Threat Hunters” competition started in 2017 with the participation of more than 300 participants and the winner competed in the regional competition organized by the Arab Regional Cybersecurity Center and held in Egypt. The second edition of the competition in 2018 and this year competition will be held in August.
Al Salehi concluded, “We invite all talents in cybersecurity field to reach out to OCERT to be productive and beneficial towards their country in the field of ethical hacking and tackling cyber-attacks and malware that target institutions and individuals alike.”
-Ends-
ITA is a Public Authority created by Royal Degree 52/2006. ITA endeavours to consolidate and implement the Digital Oman strategy to transform the Sultanate of Oman into a knowledge-based economy for the achievement of social and economic benefits to Omani society. ITA’s vision is ‘Transforming Oman, Empowering You’. For more information, visit www.ita.gov.om or email to eoman@ita.gov.om
For more information or media clarification, please contact:
Sumaiya Humaid Al Kindi
Media Specialist
Information & Awareness Division
Telephone: +968 2414 9513
GSM: +968 9540 5850
Fax: +968 2416 6604
Email: sumaiya.alkindi@ita.gov.om
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