25 Oct Etisalat and Microsoft form partnership to secure digital borders
A partnership between Microsoft and Etisalat will help to secure the UAE’s digital borders. Working jointly under the direction of UAE Cyber Security Council, the partnership will bring together Etisalat’s local network visibility with Microsoft’s digital crime unit (DCU) and its global intelligence threat feeds to tackle cybercrime in the region.
Ayman A Alshehi, Vice President, Network Security, Etisalat, said: “With a large part of the customer base operating online, strong network security has become a business necessity for the telecommunication sector. We align with the UAE Vision 2030 and ‘Project of the 50’ that propel design and execution of digital projects based on need and sustainability.
“Microsoft’s DCU supports our views and champions this partnership to adopt a strategy that would help the UAE protect digital borders and enhance the country’s cyber defences. This is an opportunity to leverage their data security and derive further insights from our scaling capabilities to aid enterprises of any size to counter cyber threats today. This digital transformation approach significantly positions cybersecurity at the centre of its journey.”
Under the new agreement Microsoft’s DCU will share cyber intelligence in real time with Etisalat in a bid to eradicate malware and malicious programs. For Etisalat’s part it will contribute its network domain knowledge to block harmful content and notify impacted entities of potential threats and cybercrime attempts.
Naim Yazbeck, Regional Director, Enterprise and Partner Group (EPG), Microsoft UAE, said: “Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) is an international team of technical, legal and business experts that has been fighting cybercrime to protect victims since 2008. This partnership ensures organisations can secure workloads and guarantee compliance so that companies can grow their business without worrying about security issues. Together with Etisalat, we shall protect the UAE’s enterprises as they build more competitive business operations in the cloud.”