“Common threats” to the United Arab Emirates and Israel

An Israeli official said Thursday that his country and the United Arab Emirates face a common threat to their national internet networks, during a rare joint discussion about the two countries’ possible cooperation after the normalization of relations.

“We face the same threats, due to the nature of the region, the nature of our new public relations and due to our identity as economically and technologically strong countries,” said Yigal Ona, director general of the National Cybersecurity Authority in Israel, leading the conversation with his Emirati counterpart, Mohammed al-Kuwaiti, during a webcast.

He continued: “We see rapid progress and I am very optimistic that we have a lot in common and a lot to share,” according to Reuters.

On the other hand, Al-Kuwaiti said his country is at risk of possible sabotage via the Internet, including malware attacks, “Ransom”, adding: “Israel is very famous in terms of technology and this will really help” .

He described normalization with Israel as a “step forward” for the UAE government in its pursuit of things like smart government and artificial intelligence technologies.

Israel announced that an agreement to normalize diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates had been reached on August 13, before announcing that a similar agreement had been reached with Bahrain on September 11.

Two peace accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain were officially signed at the White House in the US capital, Washington, in the presence of US President Donald Trump on September 15.