The Cyber Node initiative

The Cyber Node holds a crucial position in the Emirate of Dubai, as it is the main regulator and facilitator of cybersecurity and a highly influential government organization. Cyber Node is the official government department entrusted to make Dubai the safest city in cyber space. The centre has been first established in 2014 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of UAE and the Ruler of Dubai. Its collaboration with Dubai government entities is extremely strong.

The Cyber Node project is a 3-year contract between Thales and Dubai that was announced by His Highness end of October 2020. The contract was signed on the 8th of September 2020. The aim is to create an electronic security centre that will be a training centre for the main UAE (United Arab Emirates) actors. 
The project is based on a joint venture between Thales and the Dubai Electronic Security Centre; therefore, the Cyber Node will be a strategic partner, participating through 3 to 5 million dollars to the project. 
 

A strong partnership between Thales & the Cyber Node

In this partnership, Thales and the Cyber Node will work together in order to achieve the objectives of the cyber smart society and innovation domains according to Dubai’s cybersecurity strategy. Both parties will strive for the development of the excellent Cybels Train & Experiment platform to improve the city’s cyber resilience and offer the best solutions to the government and semi government entities in Dubai. Between 200 and 500 persons will be trained via the platform. 

The purpose of the Cyber Node is to deliver high quality cyber training to government and private sectors. This partnership divides responsibilities between the Cyber Node and Thales. In fact, the Cyber Node is in charge of the building, the infrastructure and the ownership of the sales pipeline while Thales supervises the Range Software and hardware, training from content to trainers as well as the management. 

Regarding the organisational aspect of the project, both parties provide representatives that will be or are part of the steering group. Thales is responsible for the CyberLab management and the staff support. Concerning the CyberLab staff, the Cyber Node provides the Sensitive Projects Team while Thales provides the Training Team as well as the Lab Managers. 

How does this partnership work?

Thales provides services to the Cyber Node so that people there, whether from Thales or the Cyber Node, can work together towards a common goal. In order to do so, the team in Dubai needed some training and asked whether it would be possible for the Thales NDEC (National Digital Exploitation Centre) team to run a remote demonstration of the Cyber Range capability from Ebbw Vale (Wales). The NDEC is another partnership between Thales, the Welsh Government and the University of South Wales (USW), and boosts an impressive Cyber Range.

Cybels Range is an offer of our Cybels Train and Experiment product line family. Despite the current Covid-19 crisis, the team were up for the challenge and provided a solution within 2 weeks of the initial request from the Dubai team. After a successful demonstration of the cyber security facilities to the Dubai team from the Thales team based at our NDEC site, Cybels Range is now being used and offered as a service at the Cyber Node.

During the demonstration, simple but effective solution consisting of the go-to training package, a pan and tilt webcam and some photography lighting were used. From now on, Cybels Range is going to be demonstrated from any Thales location, including Dubai. 

What will be the main outcomes of this project with the Cyber Node?

Multiple outcomes will result from this innovative partnership. First, it will be the first step of a strong collaboration. Thales will adapt its offer and customise to cybersecurity requirements in Dubai and will be able to extend the service with other Middle East countries. Furthermore, the development of the state of art facility, will allow the Cyber Node and Thales to collaborate on other projects. Finally, this partnership will increase the Cyber Node knowledge and the country cyber protection through top of the range cybersecurity trainings.

This project also relies on collaboration with local start-ups and renowned academic organisations to favour the sharing of good practices. There are 10 university connected to the Cyber Node with 20 trainees per university beneficiating from the Range training offered by Thales at the Cyber Node. The complex offers a learning path according to university needs. 

A contract that will power up country protection in this particular context

Finally, the partnership agreement coincides with the world’s increasing dependence on digital services, because of the impact of COVID-19, thus highlighting the importance of protecting technological infrastructure and cyberspace in order to ensure business continuity. Because of the particular and critical context, the stakes were high and important; it was necessary that the project be conducted rapidly and efficiently, which was the case in the end as the building was ready for opening only 5 months after signing the contract, proving Thales’s full commitment and reliability. 
Moreover, Middle East being exposed to cyber-attacks, it is crucial for the region to be well equipped. In 2017, the number of incidents has doubled and the threat weighing on companies grows bigger and bigger. The cybersecurity centre in Dubai will rely on Thales’s technological expertise and will benefit of its experience in critical security systems, its understanding of the regional market and its local teams’ skills. 

The Cyber Node’s approach is training and consulting based. The centre will use recognised methodologies such as cybersecurity health check-ups, vulnerability search, evaluation of specific risks for industrial systems and SCADA, simulation and threat intelligence and training. The services and products are adapted to the regional demand relying on local expertise. All this will help local companies be more reactive to their protection needs. Finally, the Cyber Node commits to improve its customers' competitive advantage by providing them with the most robust cybersecurity protocols in order to develop opportunities of strategic partnerships with other cybersecurity companies in Middle East. 

A few words about Cybels Range

This is an offer powered by DIATEAM, a French independent research and development company founded in 2002. They specialise in cyber defence as well as the production of extremely innovative cyber security solutions. DIATEAM's expertise and innovation in cybersecurity has made it the preferred partner of the major national players in the fields of defence, security, academia and the industrial sector, in particular for companies within Critical National Infrastructure. 
In nowadays market, DIATEAM is a key player for cyber infrastructure training and prototyping platforms.

In January 2019, at the International Cybersecurity Forum, Thales and DIATEAM signed a partnership agreement creating a stronger joint approach in order to address the market with a common cyber range offer. Under this agreement, the two companies offer their customers a joint simulation platform and dedicated content for cyber training, which incorporates the HNS PLATFORM from DIATEAM. Therefore, since 2019, the Cybels Range offer has entered the market.