Cyber policing experts provide cyber aid to Qatar during FIFA World Cup
FIFA World Cup 2022, the football tournament that is going to be the center of attention of the entire world is going to be held first time in Qatar. “If there is anything we have learned about cybercrime from past encounters, it would be that it thrives around major global events,” a statement said by Mohammad Al- Kayed (director of cyber defense at Black Mountain Cybersecurity) stated itself that this year Authorities and organizers of Qatar are taking all precautions to bolster the cybersecurity posture for the entire event.
Cyber security experts within the nation predict that ticketing, resort bookings and restaurant reservations shall be faked by hackers to seize private information from folks touring to Qatar. Also Phishing techniques and social engineering shall be used to steal private and monetary data from anybody utilizing the web to get details about the FIFA Tournament.
On 25th March, Interpol (International Criminal Police Organization) assemble several cyber security experts from the globe jointly in Qatar to scrutinize cyber-related threats ahead of the world Cup. The joint assembly was a part of Project stadia which was established by Interpol and funded by Qatar in 2012. Although special prominence is positioned on the 2022 World cup, The Project Stadia aims to contribute to security activities for any major sports occasions.
Apart from taking all the precautions, Qatar has partnered with various countries to provide security aid against offensive moves, for the FIFA World Cup 2022, including Turkey, Morocco, France, and the UK.
Recently, the biggest announcement regarding cyber aid for Qatar comes from Morocco. The kingdom of Morocco has agreed to deploy a team of cybersecurity experts of more than 6,000 agents of the Moroccan National Security and Gendarmerie, to ensure the security of the World Football events against cyber offensive activities.
Abdellatif Hammouchi (The head of Morocco’s General Directorate for National security and Territorial Surveillance) visited Doha during the Milipol Qatar 2022, 24–26 May (an International Event for homeland security and civil defence).
During this visit, Hammouchi held a meeting with Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz al Thani (Qatari prime Minister and interior minister) and other officials at the cybersecurity command Center regarding FIFA World Cup. At the end of the session, Hammouchi agreed to send a team of cyber security experts in the fight against cyber attacks to strengthen the effectiveness of the center.
On the eve of the FIFA World cup, France also signed the World cup security agreement in March 2021 in Doha, intending to support the Qatari partners in securing the Event. The French conglomerates will stand out in four segments that are foreseen to show very strong growth in Qatar for the next three years: information Technology and cybersecurity (+ 64%), authentication and access control (+ 60%), drones and robots (+56%), and major risks and civil defense (+44%). Not only Morocco but in fact, 23 Conglomerates of France were also participated in the 14th edition of the Milipol Event, As the French exhibitors intend to seize the opportunity of this strategic partnership to showcase their cutting-edge technologies and latest innovations in the defense and security domain at Milipol Event (6 months before the FIFA World Cup).
Turkey is labeled as the ‘Cyber ally for Qatar’ a forever cyber partner which it proved several times by providing both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities to Qatar. As a cyber ally, it is obvious that Turkey is also providing cyber aid to Qatar Nation for the FIFA World cup 2022. Both the nations signed a security cooperation protocol with an aim to secure the major world cup event in Qatar. Several experts of MIT (Turkey’s Intelligence Service) have been travelling to Doha, Qatar to work on security measures with their equivalents and interior ministry officials at Qatar’s State Security.
In the last, we can say that Qatar is rich in natural resources is yet to develop in terms of cyber capabilities and hence is associating with foreign players providing cyber aid.
