Cybersecurity in Gulf Cooperation Council Economies
This chapter examines the cybersecurity landscape of the six Gulf Cooperation Council economies. Key elements of data protection regulations in these economies draw on a number of frameworks such as the Shari’ah principles, U.S. data privacy laws, EU data
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Cybersecurity in Gulf Cooperation Council Economies
11.1
Introduction
The six oil rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) economies—Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—are intensifying CS efforts. For instance, Saudi Arabia’s CS spending during 2007–2018 is estimated to exceed US$33 billion (Karasik 2013). In February 2014, the UAE announced a plan to double security spending in the next 10 years, majority of which is expected to be on CS (Mustafa 2014). Similarly, Bahrain worked with the U.S. DoD in developing civilian and military CS capabilities, including manpower development (Ratnam 2014). Likewise, Oman was reported to attract foreign investors in developing CS capabilities in an attempt to establish itself as a regional CS hub (Mustafa 2014). First, the region’s oil-fueled prosperity and availability of liquid money make them attractive targets for financially motivated cyber-attacks. Low level of user awareness, the lack of technical and legislative capabilities and a lack of experience in CS lead to further vulnerability of these economies (El-Guindy 2013; FieldingSmith 2013). Experts have pointed out that cyber-threats facing the energy sector of these economies and lack of sufficient awareness of such threats among key actors in the region are problems of special concern (Burgers et al. 2014). GCC governments have adopted a number of measures in response to high profile attacks facing these economies. CS regulations in these economies are shaped by a variety of factors, such as Shari’ah principles, drive to modernize the economy and increasing international orientation. GCC economies which had a combined GDP of US$1.6 trillion in 2013 are attractive markets for ICT products. Especially consumers and organizations in these economies are rapidly adopting cloud computing. According to the research firm, Gartner, public cloud services in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) increased by 24.5 % to reach US$462.3 million in 2013. ICT infrastructure market was estimated to reach US$3.9 billion in 2013. Gartner noted that the data center © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 N. Kshetri, The Quest to Cyber Superiority, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-40554-4_11
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Cybersecurity in Gulf Cooperation Council Economies
market in the Middle East is mainly driven by increased construction of data centers in GCC economies such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE, primarily driven by multinational corporations (gartner.com 2013). For instance, the UAE’s cloud market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate of 43.7 % until 2016 (gitex.com 2013). The rapidly growing CS market in the region has also created opportunities for global ICT firms. For instance, in 2013, the U.S. International Trade Administration sent a delegation of 13 companies focusing on CS and critical infrastructure protection to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to market their products, technologies and services to government agencies and private businesses (Eduard 2014). Due to the strategic a
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