Mohamed Al Kuwaiti, the UAE’s head of cybersecurity, recently underscored the escalating risks facing the nation’s most vital sectors. During his address at Gisec Global, he highlighted that industries such as aviation, energy, healthcare, and government are increasingly under the microscope of malicious actors. These threats have reached staggering proportions, with officials recording as many as 640,000 cyberattacks in a single day. Beyond mere service interruptions, these hackers are actively attempting to compromise essential resources like electricity and water, signaling that digital resilience is now inseparable from the country’s broader economic and national security.

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence is further complicating this landscape, as attackers are leveraging the same advanced tools meant to drive innovation. Al Kuwaiti warned that technologies like deepfakes and automated supply-chain exploits are becoming common, necessitating a shift in how the UAE prepares for the future. Looking ahead, the government is prioritizing defenses against emerging challenges like post-quantum computing and autonomous systems. Ultimately, Al Kuwaiti emphasized that security can no longer be an afterthought; it must be embedded into the framework of all new technologies from the start. He also stressed that a collective defense strategy, built on strong partnerships between the public and private sectors, is the only viable path to mitigating these sophisticated global threats.