The Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) represented by the National Computer Emergency Team (aeCERT) – a TRA initiative – signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The Sharjah Media Corporation (SMC). The MoU states that the aeCERT will provide SMC with its services and expertise in the field of cyber security, and secure the telecommunications and Information of this esteemed Media organization.

The MoU was signed at SMC Headquarters. H. E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General signed the MoU on behalf of the Authority, while H.E. Dr. Khalid Al Midfa, Director of Sharjah TV, signed on behalf of the SMC. The ceremony was attended by a number of officials from these two governmental organizations, in addition to a wide range of media representatives.

Commenting on the MoU, H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General said: “Signing agreements and MoU’s with governmental organizations is a part of the TRA’s policy and its vision to provide a safer cyber environment. These types of agreements allow organizations to optimize performance and attain access to significant benefits of the ICT sector, and at the same time protecting them from risks of joining the wide open cyber space.”

“We are pleased to sign the MoU with Sharjah Media Corporation. We also look forward to sharing all the expertise enjoyed by the aeCERT team in the fields of ensuring cyber security to the Corporation. We will help them in improving their security levels, and assist them in bridging the gaps through which cyber pirates and offenders might infiltrate to databases or infrastructures, and cause damages to them. The MoU is part of our national duty in being the frontline defense of the ICT sector in the UAE,” Al Ghanim added.

Meanwhile, H.E. Dr. Khalid Al Midfa, Director of Sharjah TV said: “Our cooperation and coordination with the TRA was established long before this MoU; however, we signed the MoU to give this cooperation an official facet, in order to expand the range of services provided, especially when we see that common fields between us are diverse and enormous. This agreement aims at limiting the impacts of risks emerging from the leakage of information through cyber space, eliminating such leakage of confidential data or information, and optimizing services provided.”

Al Midfa commended the efforts done by the TRA and its effective role. He also valued the partnership which will result in adding more benefits. He said: “signing the MoU is in-line with the vision of Sharjah TV aiming at enhancing partnership between institutions in the society which are entitled with the responsibility of protecting information from infiltration or misuse. The cooperation in the fields of implementing the MoU is just the beginning of the true work ahead, as the responsibility of safeguarding the confidentiality of information is not a ‘one-institution task’ - it is a challenge that faces us all and directs us to work collectively in order to define its roots, determine effective means to tackle it, surround it and prevent offenders from compromising our confidentiality.”

The MoU determines the scope of cooperation and joint action between SMC and aeCERT in the fields of information security, coordination mechanism for information exchange and providing SMC with warnings related to cyberspace including attacks, viruses and intrusion, in addition to response services to cyber security incidents.

The UAE Computer Emergency Response Team (aeCERT) is a TRA initiative accredited by the UAE Ministerial Council for Services, under Direct number (89/5) for 2008, as the national CERT of the UAE. It was established in 2008 to facilitate the detection, prevention and response of cyber security incidents on the Internet; hence, providing implementation mechanisms for TRA’s strategy in supporting a cyber-safe environment for the residents of the UAE.