The Middle East Joins the SCADA / ICS Standards Foray

The oil rich countries in the Middle East depend on Industrial Control Systems (ICS) to run the Energy sector which is responsible in average for generating around 70-90 % of the national GDP. and ultimately providing around 40% of the world’s total energy consumption.

Since STUXNET news surfaced 18 month ago, the region has witnessed not less than 20 different information and cyber security conferences that addressed the topic and highlighted the ICS security issue as a monumental risk to the GCC region in particular.

The Kaspersky chart below show STUXNET infection rates in the GCC countries,(UAE,Saudi,Kuwait,Bahrain,Qatar and Oman).

STUXNET in Middle East

and recently the state of Qatar through the national CERT issued the region’s first national level ICS security Guidelines in Arabic as well as an English translated version. currently the document “planned to be updated annually” is not mandatory but the document’s roadmap is likely to see a change in the next few years.

You can download a copy of the English translation here (Download)

Press Coverage – Here